


Not Alone

by suyari



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Chuck Lives, Kid Fic, M/M, Mpreg, Stacker lives, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Yancy Lives, chaleigh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-04 10:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 58,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suyari/pseuds/suyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Breach is closed and everyone is moving on with life Post-Cancelled Apocalypse. For those involved in Operation Pitfall, there is a lot to adjust to. Fame, bureaucracy, keeping the world safe in the wake of the greatest tragedy known to man, and coping with unexpected issues as they arrive. </p><p>Some issues are more difficult to cope with than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Because this fandom needed more MPreg.

It started as little things. Easily ignored or explained away. Aches, lethargy, insomnia...Raleigh Becket was accustomed to many side effects of drifting. He knew, intimately, how much a body and mind could ache in inexplicable ways after a major battle. Knew the eerie touch of ghost drifting, and just how close constant drifting could make a pair of people. He knew how it could change a person, leave them yearning. Soul throbbing and body both too much and too little when it came to containing all the things that made a person. He knew what the loss of a pilot felt like, the hole in a soul when the other half was wrenched away. He knew what a healing balm a new co-pilot could be, even if they could never fit within the chasm's outline entirely. He knew a great many things, yet, there would always be more to learn.

He'd thought closing the breach would have been the end of it. But the Kaiju had lain waste to their world in far more damaging ways. Kaiju Blue was still rampant. Most of the Pacific Rim was a mishmash of devastation and renewal. The remains of Kaiju corpses towering over ramshackle cities. Desperately clinging to what was left of humanity that could not afford to lounge behind a labyrinth of walls and security checks. Forced to take shelter in the shadow of Shatterdomes, the homes of their heroes, and their last defense. They tripped, they stumbled, they fell and they shambled, but they never cowered.

It was these people who were keeping the line, who had _always_ lived in the grey area. The bastions, the mavericks, the opportunists and the courageous. These were the survivors of the war. The faces of humanity that would echo into history. They were a unique, hardy, infinitely stubborn group, completely resolute in their convictions. They were how, after everything, the PPDC still held.

Abandoned by the United Nations and left to their own talents, they would not be persuaded into returning, no matter the offers. A combination of private funding - from somewhat dodgy backers - and the proceeds made from requests to have access to the survivors of Operation Pitfall and their story would keep them well and truly independent long enough for them to eventually become self sustaining. Their K-Science division held patents and advanced intelligence. Their J-crew division had patched up Jaegers with nothing but spit, scrap and will. Not only did they not need access to government sanctioned blueprints, they had advanced beyond them so far - simply by seeing combat, if vicariously - they were already drafting new Jaeger designs that far outstripped anything pet architects and high paid engineers could fashion.

Some things were unavoidable - such as drift technology - too integral to the mechanics of their understanding of the world to unmake. Negotiations were underway to expand their influence and reclaim closed Shatterdomes. Until they could come to some sort of agreement with the bureaucrats, Hong Kong had granted them eternal refuge. They liked to joke, when they really needed the laugh, that they could all live out the rest of their days there in true heroic fashion.

Everyone knew who the faces of the PPDC were, and while most of the hard work went Herc and Tendo's way, Raleigh and Mako's opinions held a lot of weight. They were content, however, to hide out in the Shatterdome - returning to lives that made sense to them.

Mako kept busy with the Jaeger reclaiming project. At current, Romeo Blue and Coyote Tango's skeletal remains were being delivered to them as a peace offering, courtesy of Oblivion Bay contacts. They were waiting on the paperwork to go through for what was left of Lucky Seven and Horizon Brave. There was a lot of jockeying for the remains of Echo Saber and Vulcan Spectre, but they would likely get a hold of them just the same. And Tacit Ronin and Nova Hyperion had been donated to the cause, having been secured through private channels.

Raleigh had to admit that Mako knew her way around using her skills to their advantage. As the former Marshall's daughter, she had contacts everywhere. Most of them people who owed Stacker Pentecost favors or debts, which Mako made efficient use of. The rest...well, they just liked Mako. Or were in awe of her and eager enough to be involved to comply with her requests.

Raleigh left her to it. He was far more concerned with keeping the new Rangers in line. The pulling of funds and the closing of Shatterdomes hadn't meant a complete obliteration of their way of life. The PPDC, having been at it's root, military, was more alive now than with former regulations dictated by purse keepers. If anything, they were inundated with requests from the last graduating class. Who had never seen combat but had been trained by the best for the worst and thus, only needed proper compatibility testing to finalize teams.

Herc left Raleigh to it.

He spent his days fighting and running sims and reliving the final battle. As overwhelming as it could feel, he enjoyed it. It left him with a sense of purpose. It left him with a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. It assuaged any doubts he may have had when Stacker Pentecost had walked back into his life and reeled him in like the hopeless catch he always had been. But most importantly, it gave him a job post-Apocalypse that he could really engage himself in. His skills were extremely limited, and being a Captain suited him.

There were days however, where the strain seemed to weigh on him. It would hit out of nowhere, leaving Raleigh drained and disheartened. On those days, Mako would find him - without any information exchange beyond what existed in the space between their souls. She would appear out of nowhere, having come from something very important that could keep. They'd walk off together for time alone and would not reappear until they were balanced once more. There were times it happened the other way - Mako still struggled with Stacker's death and the whirlwind that had been her first and only tour of duty - but as the days passed, it was Raleigh who needed more and more support.

They never talked about the need. They simply indulged one another until the horrible wrenching suffocation eased or dissipated entirely. Mako said nothing, as the occasional bout became weekly, then biweekly, then every other day, until it was an unspoken everyday occurrence. It bothered Raleigh though.

"There's something wrong with me," he sighed, stretching against the couch. His body felt primed for action, even while simultaneously exhausted beyond all reason. He wanted to run for miles as much as he wanted to drop face first into his bunk and sleep for _days_.

To her credit, Mako didn't contradict him or offer excuses. "We'll see Newt about it," she replied.

Raleigh raised a skeptical brow. "I finally admit to feeling like crap and you don't want to rush me to medical?"

She hummed, shifting to snuggle against his side. "I do not think they will help much in this. At least not right away."

"Mako, what aren't you telling me?"

"Shhh..." she soothed, turning until she faced him, a hand extending to caress the side of his face. Her fingertips brushed his temple. "I just know."

He didn't need any further proof. That was just the way it was with them.

*

"That isn't possible," Hermann breathed. "It simply isn't possible!"

"Really?" Newt replied. "Are we going to start that again, after _everything_ we've been through?"

Hermann's lips thinned, but he didn't reply. Instead, he stared at the print out, eyes going hazy in that mathy way of his.

"It's _improbable_ , yes," his colleague went on. "But impossible?" He shook his head. "You know as well as I do how complex Kaiju are, down to a functional, mathematical level." That they'd even begun working on something _together_ \- let alone the fact they seemed to _enjoy_ it - was still something that had the Shatterdome reeling. "What's the Human Genome to a Precursor? It'd be like mucking around with marine biology. It's different, yeah, on the outside. But when you break it down..."

Hermann went pale, holding very still. "Do you think...?"

"I don't know," Newt replied with a sigh. "But if they did...How long was Raleigh even in the Anteverse?"

They both looked to him, even as Hermann answered, "We can't quantify that without pod data."

"And the systems were fried."

"Guys," Raleigh said, waving his hand for emphasis. "Living, sentient being right here. What the hell are you talking about?"

They looked to one another, then at Raleigh, then back to one another.

"We should--"

"Really, be sure, yeah!" Newt finished, rolling over a heavy looking machine. It glided across the floor, however, so looks were probably deceiving. "If you'd just...lay back, Ranger Becket."

Raleigh raised an eyebrow.

"Captain!" Hermann hissed.

"Captain," Newt corrected. "Please."

Raleigh couldn't give a damn about the title. He just wanted answers. Mako took his hand and gave him a pleading look however, so he resigned himself to further wait, laying back in compliance. The younger scientist hiked his tank up and squeezed gel over his abdomen without preamble.

He sighed, closing his eyes to take a deep, calming breath, free hand moving to pinch his brow. Due to his eyes being closed, all he heard were the intakes of breath, just before a switch flipped and the rapid flutter of a heartbeat echoed loudly in the room.

Raleigh's eyes shot open.

"Well," Newt informed no one in particular. "It's human at least." He smiled at Raleigh. " _Big_ relief there!"

On the monitor, in grey scale was a recognizably human shaped...alien mass.

Mako lunged across the space between them, catching Raleigh in her arms as Newt backed up with a - later denied - shriek.

"Raleigh!" she cried. "Raleigh, it's okay!"

"OKAY?!" he shouted back, too stunned to fight her. At their level of compatibility, he'd have needed his full wits about him and all of his concentration to hope to throw her. As it was, he could do no more than clutch her. "WHAT ABOUT THIS IS OKAY?!" His head snapped to the side to take in the scientists, who had moved a healthy distance away. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Raleigh, dude," Newt replied, hands up. "Calm down. It's really not good for the baby."

Raleigh didn't know if it was the stress, the shock, the hyperventilation or the sedative - perhaps it was a combination of all four - but black closed in on him quickly. As he felt himself fall back into the comfort of the buzz that was Mako's steady presence at the back of his aggrieved mind, his thoughts were consumed with nothing more intelligent than 'oh god, oh god, oh god.'

*

When he came to, he was in the hospital wing, staring up at a too white ceiling. Someone had alerted Herc; the Marshall arguing in a low tone with a few members of the staff a short distance away. When he noticed Raleigh awake, he dismissed them and moved immediately to his side.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, accent thick.

Raleigh had noticed it only tended to become thick when he was stressed, tired, concerned, or after interacting with other Australians for extended periods of time. When Chuck had been alive, they had kept one another in check, he supposed. With Chuck gone, Herc wavered in a lot of ways. He certainly wasn't taking the best care of himself. Not that Raleigh could blame him. He'd been there.

"Like I went ten rounds solo with a Kaiju."

Herc nodded, turning a chair around and lowering himself into it. It was a decidedly Chuck thing to do, but Raleigh made it a point not to acknowledge personality shifts, most especially to Herc himself. Sometimes, it was the only place to find solace. "They've had to keep you under a few days, run some tests."

"And?"

The Marshall didn't mince words. "Whatever happened to you in the Anteverse has altered you in ways we never thought to check. Maybe if we'd been more thorough sooner..."

"Happened to me?" Raleigh echoed. "Sir, I was there less than a minute."

Herc sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

"Raleigh...it may have felt like a minute, but Gottlieb's best guess right now is closer to an hour."

"An... _hour_..." he choked, feeling his heart seize. His throat shut down and the rest of him ran cold all the way through.

"What the techs have managed to pull so far...seems like you were holding your own in there. Gipsy may have been damaged, but they couldn't get the conn-pod to respond. Still...there _was_ a hull breach, and-"

"I gave my oxygen to Mako. My filtration was compromised."

Herc nodded.

"Fucking hell."

"That's about where we are too," Herc agreed. 

"Did they..." he asked, hands going over his abdomen, not even sure he knew what he was asking.

"From what we've gathered so far, doesn't seem like it. You were altered, yes, but you had to have picked up the other genetic material later."

Raleigh blinked at him. "Other..." He caught himself, because of course, _other_. How else did humans go about making babies? He decided to ignore everything he knew about how the Precursors had gone about making Kaiju, courtesy of Newt. "Mako was the first person I-"

Herc shook his head. "We've already tested Mako. It isn't her's."

Raleigh laughed. "That definitely would have been an odd way to go about it." Mako, after all, was a completely healthy, fertile human being with her own reproductive track, far better suited to this than whatever the hell was going on with Raleigh.

The Marshall smiled. "It would indeed."

"So...who then?"

"We were hoping you'd tell us."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow," he replied after a moment.

"Who've you slept with, Raleigh? Mako wasn't very helpful-"

"That's because she's the only one I've slept with. And, that's in the most basic, literal understanding of the word." He shook his head. "I don't know what people think about me, Marshall, but, I haven't had sex in six years."

"Hell of a dry spell."

"You're telling me."

"Well, if you haven't had sex with anyone, and it isn't Mako's..."

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Actually," interrupted Newt, waving a paper at them. "We've managed to isolate the genetic markers and..." He looked uncomfortable, but the glare Herc graced him with was more than enough incentive to continue. "You share genetic markers. Prominent ones. A little more than a quarter-"

"The kid's Herc's?" Raleigh asked. He looked sideways at the Marshall who looked like he'd just been sucker punched. Looking back to Newt, he found him squirming slightly.

"No, actually," he began.

Herc cut him off, a raspy quality to his voice. "It's Chuck's."


	2. Chapter Two

"Chuck's," Raleigh repeated, in disbelief. "How?"

"We don't know," Newt replied. "But we double checked. Blood match with the Marshall." He nodded at Herc. "And perfectly aligns with samples we have on record for Ranger Hansen." He was deliberately avoiding saying Chuck's name. Raleigh didn't blame him.

When Herc's eyes met Raleigh's again, the younger man threw up both hands. "I swear, Chuck and I _never_!"

Herc tilted his head, observing him fully. Raleigh kept still, like a good Ranger. After several long moments, Herc heaved a sigh. "Wouldn't have surprised me if you had."

"What?" Raleigh choked.

"Nothing. Old news." He dropped a hand to his thigh. "So that's my grandchild you have there."

"Something tells me this information just made my life a whole lot more complicated than if it was the milkman's." He looked up to the scientist who'd somehow managed to make it almost entirely out of the room. "Thanks a lot, Newt."

Newt rocked up on his heels, snapping off a mock salute. "Anytime, Captain."

*

Mako wasn’t surprised.

“I just told you I’m carrying Chuck Hansen’s not quite love child and all you can say is ‘That makes sense’?” Raleigh shifted in his seat, unable to keep still. “Mako, _how_ does that make _any_ sense? None of this makes sense.”

She looked at him, in that calm, patient way of hers that still managed to convey he was an idiot who’d missed something glaringly obvious, but she loved him anyway. “I was the first person you had physical contact with when you returned from the Anteverse.” 

Raleigh nodded. 

“Chuck was the last person you had physical contact with _before_ you entered the Anteverse.” 

Comprehension dawned slowly. He remembered suddenly - and rather vividly - the last time he’d seen Chuck Hansen face to face.

 _There was so much to do, Raleigh felt like he was only in the way. Other Rangers had learned comprehensive skills that made them more valuable to the Shatterdome. Mako had rebuilt Gipsy from a smoldering husk. Herc was Stacker’s right arm, never far from the center of things, never out of the loop. Hell, even_ Chuck _\- arrogant little fuck that he was - had grown up tackling the titans with his family’s J-crew and could wield a wrench, solder, and weld like a master craftsman. Raleigh knew construction, he understood engineering, but unless the bay launch suddenly took on water, he was useless._

 _He tried to ease his nerves by wandering around as the last odds and ends were seen to. Ended up standing in the hangar, looking at the empty housing units that had once swelled with activity. Today was the day. It was all or nothing. Everything they had worked for was on the line. A last ditch effort that would make or break humanity. And they were on auxiliary. He felt the loss of the other two Jaegers and their teams keenly. When half the force was wiped out in any operation, it was sobering. But when there would be no more coming to replace them...Two. There were_ two _Jaegers left in the entire world. If they fucked this up...If the plan didn’t work...If they all fell without managing to accomplish what they’d set out to do…_

_“Could you look any more serious, mate?”_

_Raleigh inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly to calm the sudden conflicting feeling of his metaphorical hackles rising._

_Chuck sauntered over to stand beside him, turning to face the forlorn bays. He said nothing; simply stood beside Raleigh for a long moment, taking in the sight and steadying himself. He kept his arms behind his back, legs apart, back straight...It hit Raleigh then, that Chuck was saying good-bye. Ranger to Ranger._

_“In case we all die down there, there’s one thing I’d like to get off my chest,” he said, gaze still fixed on the emptiness before them._

_“What’s that?” Raleigh asked, finding he genuinely wanted to know, and wasn’t exactly feeling on the defensive, or particularly combative._

_Chuck turned and regarded him._

_Raleigh looked back at him. Eyes widening when Chuck caught him by the chestplate and dragged him forward into a kiss. Stunned - and unprepared - he didn’t respond until the younger Ranger had pulled back._

_There was a pink tinge to his skin, a flush of something as he admitted, “Always wanted to do that.”_

_“You call that a send off?” Raleigh remarked, something jumping in his stomach when Chuck’s eyes snapped up to meet his, guarded and a little hurt. It was the vulnerability that made Raleigh wrap both arms about him and haul him up against his body. Chuck fell into him with a surprised sound, bracing both hands against the blond’s hips. There was too much innocence in those eyes. Raleigh couldn’t let him go off to die without ever knowing what a good kiss felt like. If they were going to die, they’d need all the warm memories they could stand. “_ This _is how you send off another Ranger.”_

_Tugging Chuck impossibly closer, his mouth met the younger’s heatedly. The Australian made a sound that would be with Raleigh long after he was dead and gone. A small, surprised, yet somehow pleased and relieved sound that preceded Raleigh’s tongue’s admittance._

_And if they’d showed to their conn-pods a little flushed, with complementary colored streaks across their armor, well, they’d at least had a proper send off. Parting on good terms with nothing but well wishes. No one could ask for better in their situation._

Raleigh groaned, head rocking back as he dropped a palm to his face. He could feel Mako lean closer, whether in concern or amusement, he couldn’t quite discern through his embarrassment. He wasn’t ashamed it had happened. He’d do it again, if put in the situation all over. It was the fact that Mako remembered something he’d clearly managed to suppress that left him feeling odd inside.

He’d managed to file the kiss away somewhere even he couldn’t reach. A shored up happy feeling he’d set aside for a rainy day suddenly bared to his consciousness. He could suddenly feel the weight of Chuck against him. The clack of gauntlets against faulds. The tangle of encased fingers in hair and the brush of armor beneath circuitry material. He could smell him. The rich musk of sunny days outdoors and too much time beneath a hood, with a distinctive spice that lingered. The force of his kiss, eager and enthusiastic, but never desperate. The taste that lingered on Raleigh’s lips, a promise of more to come if they just stuck to the plan. 

He laughed then. Laughed until he cried, rubbing at the tears with a hooked forefinger, one arm about his abdomen protectively. “Don’t let them lie to you, Mako. You really _can_ get knocked up if you make out with boys!” 

She smiled at him softly. But as he blinked at her through watery eyes, he knew she would soon be holding him until he let it out properly. He’d do his best to put if off for both their sakes.

*

He’d thought it had been embarrassing having Mako point it out. That situation, in private quarters, in private company, had absolutely _nothing_ on having to explain the situation to the assembled group assigned to his care the following day.

He did his best to keep his eyes averted when it came to the Marshall. He didn’t think he’d survive telling Herc Hansen to his face that he’d made out with his baby boy before they’d dropped and that was how he’d managed lingering DNA for aggressive aliens to fuck with in another universe. When he did spare a glance however, between Newt sputtering and one of the doctors asking for specifications, Herc was looking down. His arms were crossed, and his head was bowed, but he was smiling. 

It was the sort of smile Raleigh understood. He’d had those moments every so often in that first year after Yancy’d been taken from him. Completely disarming episodes that distracted from the pain long enough to feel genuine happiness. ‘Good for you,’ they said. And ‘I’m proud of you.’ And ‘I’ll be damned.’

He did his best to keep attention focused on him so Herc could enjoy it for as long as it lingered. When you drifted with someone, open and honest and often, there was no real need for words. And when they were gone, all those words that had been absorbed by the drift found their way back to give comfort when you needed it most. 

He wondered what response the ghost of Chuck in Herc’s head had to his father finding out he’d gotten on the field with a Ranger he’d initially despised. He tried not to let it bother him that he didn’t have the slightest clue as to the possibilities.

*

“You could have told me I was gaining weight,” he complained to his co-pilot, shirt rucked up beneath his underarms as he shifted sideways this way and that in front of a mirror.

“Why?” she replied. “You needed the weight.”

“All in one place though?” he sighed.

“It is hardly all in one place.” She stood gracefully and crossed the room to stand behind him, eyes focused low on his reflection in the mirror. “And it looks good on you.”

He grinned. “And now that we know?”

“It still looks good on you,” she commented. “You should consider keeping some of it after.”

Raleigh snorted. Fingers flexing, he smoothed them over the bit of gut he’d been doing his damnedest to tuck in for a while now. Extra exercise had not altered it in any way, which had been beyond frustrating. He’d chalked it up to a hard life and being nearer to thirty and a slowing metabolism. Apparently, no amount of exercise could have removed it. Although, a particularly engaging match in the Kwoon might have. 

He shuddered at that, hands stilling. Mako’s arms slipped around him, her head dropping against his shoulder. Her hands kept away from his, knowing him as she did, that it would be an unwelcome touch at the moment. “We know now,” she soothed. 

He breathed in and released it through his mouth in a controlled gesture. “We do,” he agreed.

“As does the Marshall,” she teased.

Raleigh groaned. “Some days I think Herc would be happiest if they bound me to a bed of memory foam and clouds with nothing to do but eat and grow round, safely guarded within a titanium dome fifty feet thick.” 

He could feel her smile against his skin, even as he caught its appearance in the mirror. “And others?”

“That I’m the most painful reminder of all that he’s lost, which he can’t avoid - for obvious reasons - and would be happiest if the entire situation just went away.” 

Mako hugged him. “You understand which is dominant, yes?”

“Yes,” he sighed. He was well aware what this baby meant to Herc. A fresh start, the key to giving a damn again, the opening chord that was the knell to every single thing that haunted his every step. Mako had been Raleigh’s. He understood how important this baby was to Herc. He would never deny him the chance. Even if there were days it was all too much, too soon, and Raleigh was plagued by nightmares of just what was _really_ growing inside him. It wasn’t as if they could _trust_ the Precursers. For all they knew, Raleigh was incubating a genocidal bomb that would wipe out humanity with it’s first exchange of air. Sure, the chance was slim - he’d actually nearly made Newt cry when he’d launched into that tirade in the K-science main lab - but that didn’t negate the possibility. 

Hermann had been surprisingly supportive of his apprehension. It had been him - of all people - who had dared ask Raleigh the one question no one had even come close to broaching. 

“Do I want to keep it?” Raleigh had echoed, incredulously. 

“Yes,” was all Hermann had said in response. 

As no one had given him the option to even think of aborting the entire mission - which was the only way he was currently going to allow himself to feel about the baby - he had initially been thrown. Further thought and hours of reflection had helped him find an answer. 

“No,” he’d said the next day. 

“What?” Newt had asked, one end of a tourniquet between his teeth as he tried to affix something silver and flashing to Raleigh’s inner elbow. 

“No,” Raleigh’d said again. 

“No to what?” the tattooed scientist had responded, perplexed. 

“Just thinking out loud,” he’d replied. “I figure if I can fight Kaiju, outlive Yancy, survive solo piloting and detonate a nuclear reactor in a hostile alternate universe, I’d have to be an absolute coward to shy away from a baby. Regardless of the how or why.”

Newt patted him, though the last two swipes had a distinct vein plumping feel to them. “Good for you, man.”

Across the room, Hermann had nodded and returned to his calculations. 

“Come on.” Mako’s voice was cheery as it interrupted his wandering mind. “It’s time to eat lunch and have your blood checked.”

Raleigh heaved a weary sigh. “I’m their favorite pincushion. There’s no possible reason they need to stick me as much as they do.”

She eased his shirt down and smoothed it out about his waist. “If the Marshall weren’t interfering, they’d be taking more.”

“ _More_?!” 

Mako smiled. Twining their fingers, she gave his hand a small, encouraging tug. “You should show him how grateful you are by eating all your vegetables.”

Raleigh made a face. 

“When the baby is of age, _I_ will be deciding what proper meals consist of,” she informed him with a sigh that managed to be both fond and chastising. 

“Be my guest.”

*

Raleigh stared up at the imposing figure of Tacit Ronin. The fact that he was a Ranger himself - of a now historically famous Jaeger - did not detract a single iota of awe and wonder from the moment. Tacit Ronin may have gone down, but a dedicated team with a goal had polished her back to full glory. She was missing a lot of the core elements that would make her functional, but from the outside, she was as pristine and beautiful as the day she first greeted her pilots.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Mako breathed in Japanese, appearing beside him. 

“The second most beautiful Jaeger I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he returned in kind.

Mako laughed. “Me too.” 

Of course, there was plenty to do. Even if the Marshall had effectively banned him from setting foot in the Kwoon, Raleigh had plenty of Rangers to order around, and a co-pilot fully immersed in her element. It meant that whenever he needed a moment, had to dodge someone looking too closely at his sudden change in access, or just needed to feel useful, there was somewhere to go. Some work to take his mind off things. 

Weeks had gone by since they had closed the Breach. Enough that they could be grouped into proper months. Months which, knowingly or not, Raleigh Becket had been secretly devoting endless amounts of his body’s time, energy and resources into housing and growing Chuck Hansen’s baby. 

By the time he had reached fourteen weeks, he knew time was running short on their keeping this under wraps. The PPDC could effectively quash any media attempts to expose his secret, but there would be no stopping the wildfire Shatterdome rumormill. Once it got out, even with the force of incurring the Marshall’s wrath behind it, a morsel like Raleigh’s would be irresistible. Hell, he’d be honestly surprised if - despite confidentiality agreements - the team assigned to him weren’t already talking about his situation in ways that were not strictly medical. 

Not that he could blame them. It wasn’t in him to take offense over a thriving entity that helped the dome function by decompression. But the longer he could avoid the sidelong looks and rushed whispers, the better. 

Naturally, given his feelings on the matter, things came to a head when LOCCENT received a hail from a mining corporation. They’d happened upon PPDC property, and were doing their duty to humanity’s private rescue squad in handing over coordinates for recovery, as well as whatever had been liberated from the ocean floor in their pursuit. 

Tendo - resident overseer and lord of technicalities - was the one to take the call. He opened the information to browse as they discussed relevant information. Rumor had it, he’d choked on his bagel while skimming absently through photographs. 

“What is it?” the Marshall was quoted as saying. He’d crossed the room in three strides and hovered over a coloring Tendo. “What’s wrong?”

“Sir,” Tendo had apparently wheezed. “It’s Striker Eureka.” 

The Marshall was said to have stared broodingly at the images, brow furrowing and eyes squinting as if searching for recognizable pieces. 

“Here!” Tendo had shouted, spreading both hands wide quickly to zoom in. “HERE!” Thrusting one hand out, arm extended, his finger pointed to a charred bit of bobbing wreckage. 

“CHOPPERS!!” Marshall Hercules Hansen’s voice had boomed over the Shatterdome’s systems. “SCRAMBLE THE CHOPPERS **NOW**!!”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh gets a little emotional in this one. It's been a long time coming. Baby Becket-Hansen is along for the ride. 
> 
> Sorry if I don't get around to replying to comments. I _do_ read them. I have a tendency to reply verbally (which is no help to anyone) as they pop up in my inbox. But, I am also generally writing at the time, and I get distracted by it. I do appreciate every single one though, and every single one of you who pop in to read. Thank you.

“Absolutely not!” roared Herc. 

For all the formalness of their settings, it was most definitely Hercules Hansen, Ranger, Widower, Grieving Father and Protective Grandfather who they were dealing with. And not - contrary to appearances - Marshall Hercules Hansen of the PPDC. 

“It’s the _only_ way!” Raleigh insisted, frustrated by the entirely unwelcome special treatment.

“We have plenty of trained Rangers-”

“Who have never jockeyed in their lives! Let alone been in a real conn-pod! Herc, I understand, I do. But, you, Mako and I are the _only_ pilots left! I’m not about to jury rig co-pilots, strap them in a Jaeger and drop them thirty-five thousand feet below sea level to pick through debris! We’d be lucky if they managed to keep Tacit upright! And you want them to _maneuver_ her in an unfamiliar landscape under decidedly hostile conditions with _precision_?! In order to retrieve extremely delicate material?!”

“They’re _Rangers_ , Captain Becket,” Herc bit out. 

“They’re _MY_ Rangers, Marshall Hansen. And I am not about to let anyone - even their idiot selves - jeopardize their lives by going off half cocked. We don’t have _time_ to do this properly, sir. All due respect, it’s been _fourteen weeks_. We’ve already bypassed miracles and are heading right into Goddamn suspicious!”

Herc glared at him. “Exactly, Ranger. It’s been fourteen weeks. We can’t know what we’ll find. That there’ll be anything _to_ find.” To his credit, Herc’s voice only cracked marginally. “I am not about to risk all of _your_ lives on a wing and a prayer.” 

All their lives. Mako’s. His. And the baby’s. Raleigh sighed. “Sir...you are far too important to the cause to risk. Besides, Mako and I are an established, capable team. Even if you found a drift compatible Ranger in the ranks, the neural backlash…”

Herc scrubbed a hand through his hair in defeat. “And we don’t know what could happen to you if you get too close to the mouth of the Breach. It’s closed - for now - but how do we know it won’t affect you if you get too close to it? Or that you won’t affect it? Or worse…” 

Leave it to Herc to factor losing the baby as worse than potentially being exposed to the Anteverse again. Not that Raleigh was keen to chance losing his baby, but they were in a corner and the only way out was to climb in a Jaeger and beat the crap out of the walls until they crumbled into dust. 

“We’ll be fine, Herc. Female pilots have managed the drift just fine, pregnant.”

“Those were dire cases under severe duress,” Herc countered. “We never sent a pregnant pilot out when we could help it.”

“Well we can’t help it now, any more than you could help it then.” And because he wasn’t entirely sure he’d ever get Herc to see it his way and allow them the chance to search for hope, he took the low road and fought dirty. Settling his hands over his baby bump, he threaded his fingers. “If he’s alive, Herc,” he said softly. “He has a right to know this baby. And our baby has the right to know it’s father.”

Herc’s jaw clamped tightly, twitching slightly in one corner. Raleigh knew for all the guilt he would carry over his actions, it would all be worth it in the end. Regardless of what they found. Chuck Hansen and Stacker Pentecost were heroes. And if all they did was recover their bodies for the elaborate military burials awaiting them, then they damn well would. 

He and Herc could work out the rest later, for the baby’s sake.

*

He wasn’t going to lie. This was fan-fucking-tastic. It was almost like the rebound of Mako’s initial excitement during their first drift in Gipsy. There was a general hum from Tacit in the drift that spoke of the tales of the older Jaegers and their attachments to their pilots. Raleigh and Mako paused in their excitement to soothe her. It may be superstitious nonsense, but they were about to be dropped into the Mariana Trench in a Mark I that had gone down with her pilots still inside this very same conn-pod. There were at least five of them in the drift at the moment, and they gave respect where it was due.

Given all the concern over Raleigh’s health - and the additional monitors they’d stuck him with prior to drifting - they didn’t seem to encounter very much by way of issue. On their monitor screens, their stats, and the baby’s were holding steady. They were calm, in control and determined, which made them focused and efficient. 

The search took an hour - during which both Mako and Raleigh did their best to ignore the circling rabbit wanting to take them for a correlation ride. At the end of it, however, they had what they’d gone down for. Striker Eureka’s detachable conn-podd inset. Clutching it close in both hands, they slowly made their way back up. 

The walk - which included pauses for decompression - took them eight hours. During which Mako and Raleigh would talk about everything and nothing while keeping their hands steadily positioned to cradle their last chance at hope and desperately trying not to think about what it was they were doing exactly. Tacit helped, in her own way. A Mark I, she was difficult for them to maneuver, as accustomed to Gipsy as they were. But she was quick and streamlined, which helped ease the intense pressure bearing down on them. Tacit moved slowly because they were being deliberately careful, yes. But it also took more effort than either had anticipated to get her to move to their specifications. Twice, they paused to rest, communicating with LOCCENT in outright lies that they were aware only Herc, Tendo and very senior members would be able to catch. 

All in all, Raleigh would not be recommending operating Mark I’s to anyone born after the year 2000. They were clearly designed to be operated by far greater pilots than they could ever hope to be. He was grateful he’d stood up to Herc. None of his Rangers could have handled this. In fact, as they climbed higher and higher, his mind swam with Mako’s mental notes on how to correct just such a lag in the other Jaegers being restored to service. 

If they weren’t already co-pilots, if they hadn’t had the connection they shared, he could have easily seen the recovery mission going very, very wrong in so very many ways. By the time they made it topside, they were exhausted. 

Setting the conn-pod down gently, they’d walked Tacit back to her post, shut her down, and wobbled out on unsteady legs, leaning heavily on one another. They were instantly swarmed by medical. And as Raleigh was eased onto a stretcher, he rocked his head to the side to see the J-crews already on the recovered conn-pod, cutting away at metal. It was a good thing that Striker Eureka’s crew had mostly stayed on. They were the ones who’d built the panic podd. They knew how it worked. And they’d get them out if Stacker and Chuck were still in there. 

He spared a moment to imbue Chuck’s spirit before he gave into unconsciousness. 

_If you leave me to raise this kid on my own, I swear to God, Chuck, I will name this baby after your father. Male or female._

*

“We have to talk about this sedation habit of yours,” was Raleigh’s greeting to his doctor two days later. “It’s really starting to grate on my nerves.”

“You have yourself to blame this time around, Captain,” she replied cheerily, tapping a note or two into his chart. “You slept for most of it without help.”

“Mako?”

“Woke up eleven hours ago. She’s in critical care right now.”

“Are they…?”

“Miraculously.”

Raleigh’s grin was more of a beam, and he pushed himself up excitedly, only to sink back into the bed in a rush as his body screamed filthy profanities at him. His doctor was at his side instantly, looking him over. 

“Maybe I’ll just…” he breathed, gingerly stretching out his limbs. He saw the needle and felt the inevitable wash over him like a warm blanket. “You really don’t have to-” She punched in the code. “Code me,” he finished lamely. “Right…” He yawned and closed his eyes. “See you in a few days.” 

It turned out to only be a few hours.

“I want you to know that what you did was stupid, reckless and unforgivable.”

Raleigh sipped his decadent hot chocolate as he waited for the other shoe to drop. 

“That being said…” Herc stood, leaning over him and taking him into his arms to hold him tightly. “Thank you,” he murmured into his hair. 

Balancing his mug in one hand, Raleigh patted the Marshall’s back with the other. “You’d have done it if you’d been able,” he assured him. 

Herc nodded, pulling away and reclaiming his chair. 

“So, explain this to me.” Raleigh wiggled in his bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. He knew the basics, of course, having been present for the debriefing. But the resulting argument had washed most of that knowledge right out the proverbial window. “They’re in comas?”

Herc nodded again, this time straightening in his seat. When he did things like that, it was an instant transformation from warm, kind man to career soldier. “After Gipsy went down outside of Anchorage…” He paused to give Raleigh an apologetic look before continuing. “It was decided that the Mark V’s would have some sort of failsafe. They have a lot of names: Bailout, Panic Pod, Auxiliary conn-podd...but it’s all the same basic premise. Not an escape pod, not quite a life raft.”

“Then what is it?”

“Suspended animation.”

Raleigh blinked at him. He couldn’t have heard properly. 

“No, you heard it right,” Herc said, as if hearing Raleigh’s thoughts. 

He blinked again. He knew about the concept. There was enough information around to hazard a guess at how it worked. But no one could ever really tell what was legitimate science and what was purely science fiction. He’d heard, of course, that it had been one of the prominent research projects in development both prior to K-Day and during the first year and a half of the war, before Jaegers had been fully fleshed out. 

Before the planet had been consumed by hostile alien incursion there’d been plenty of chatter about advancements in making it to Mars. Once the beyond had come to them, a lot of what had initially been developed for space exploration was converted for Jaeger tech. A surprising amount of astrophysics and aerospace engineering was involved in Jaeger creation. 

It made sense, in a practical way, still…

“Don’t ask me how it works,” Herc replied. “I never could wrap my head around it. Long and short of it: in a worse case scenario, Striker could be remotely controlled, while the auxiliary was jettisoned.”

“You’re saying Stacker and Chuck weren’t in Striker when they flipped the switch.”

“There was a range, which we never could quite work out during testing,” Herc replied with a nod. “But, essentially, yes.”

“Why…” His hand drifted down to rest over the bump that encompassed his current mission. He didn’t register the gesture. Unbeknownst to him, Herc did. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

He sighed. “It was classified.” 

Raleigh snorted.

Herc held up a hand placatingly. “I know, I know. But it was Stacker’s show, and we kept in line.”

“And after?” Raleigh demanded.

“We kept our eyes and ears open, but didn’t want to give anyone hope.”

“We?”

“Tendo and myself.”

“Tendo knew?”

“Only after I debriefed him. If I was going to have any hope at finding them, I’d need him on board. He…” Herc’s head tilted, mouth twisting in the opposite direction. “Wasn’t happy to receive the information. But, he did his job.”

“That’s how he knew what to look for. How he found what looked like scrap to everyone else.”

“Yes.”

“And now?”

“He’s still not happy about it, but he agrees we can’t let this get out.”

“How are we going to explain them being alive fourteen weeks after their Jaeger imploded at the bottom of the ocean?”

“We’ll worry about that later.”

When Raleigh only continued to look at him, uncomprehending, Herc added, “They have to survive _this_ first.”

*

“Raleigh, please sit down, you were only just released. You need to rest-”

“I can’t rest!” he snapped. Turning on his heel, he wheeled around to face her, throwing both arms out. "I _hate_ bullshit!"

She sighed.

"Mako, you can't tell me you _agree_ with any of this."

"Whether I agree or not is irrelevant. It isn't something we can control, Raleigh. And if the Marshall thought it was best-"

"I know you love your father, Mako, but please don't defend him right now."

She straightened in her chair, but didn't stand. "I _will_ defend him!" she countered. "You're confused and _afraid_ and lashing out. I respect your feelings, Raleigh. Please respect mine.”

“Afraid?” he scoffed.

“Yes, afraid.”

“I am not afraid. I’m pissed off!” He swung an arm out to gesture at the pair of pilots in the beds beside them. “They’ve been alive all this time, and we’ve not done _anything_ to get them back! Herc just let everyone believe they were dead. He let you believe your father was dead!”

“He had his reasons.”

“No, Mako! You don’t just let people mourn for no damn reason!”

“It was better we mourn them as dead heroes, than fail to mourn them as missing pilots.”

“It’s not-!” His fist slammed into the bedside table. 

“Raleigh…” She stood, crossing over to him. She didn’t reach for him, instead, stepping into his personal space and waiting for him to come to her. “You know that Yancy is dead. You felt him die. You were there with him, for every moment. As much as it haunts you, can you not see how blessed you were in that moment? Pain, fear, grief, anger...they blind us. You cannot see.”

“See what?” he rasped, throat constricting. 

“In his final moments…” She waited until his eyes tentatively met her’s. Yancy was a subject they didn’t broach without reason. She wouldn’t have brought him up if she didn’t have a point to make. But every mention of his brother made Raleigh’s _soul_ ache. It brought back all the pain and devastation of his loss in one fell swoop. He was always unprepared. He’d always be unprepared. “You were with him. And he was _loved_.”

Raleigh sucked in a sharp breath, chest tightening. 

“I have experienced your memories. I have experienced his too.” She reached for him, as if gentling a horse. Raleigh sunk into her touch like a starved creature. “You only see fear, Raleigh. You only feel the sharpness of it. Within you, it is a living, dark thing. But, from here...All I can see is love.”

He swallowed against the burn rising against his will. 

“Yancy _was_ afraid, Raleigh. He was afraid for _you_. He felt regret. Regret that he was not enough. That he had failed. That he could not save _you_. The terror that you felt, that lives deep within you, was for _you_. In his last moments, Yancy's entire self was devoted to you. And you have spent years forgetting that."

_"Raleigh, listen to me!"_

"Stop hiding from his sacrifice."

_"Raleigh, listen to me! You need to-"_

" _Honor_ his death, Raleigh. _Listen_ to him."

_"Raleigh, listen to me! You need to-" hold on! Raleigh! Hold on!_

Her arms went about him as he froze. Had he really always known? Had he really never let himself hear Yancy’s final words? Some part of him must have, he thought. For he had obeyed. He’d piloted Gipsy back to shore solo. And had survived it. 

Soul aching, mind screaming, body in agony...he had found the strength to finish off Knifehead and return home. He shouldn’t have been surprised, he realized. He’d always followed Yancy. Mired in the shock of losing him, the crushing guilt of not following him into death, Raleigh had never stopped to look at it closely. Had never wanted to look at it in the first place.

Of course he’d made it back. Yancy had gone ahead and guided him home. 

The tears that had been finding their way free in slow drips suddenly poured forward. He crumpled with an agonized sob and burrowed into his co-pilot. Mako held him as he came apart. Let himself cry for the first time. Let himself finally face what had happened to them. 

_”Worry about yourself, kiddo,”_ Yancy’s voice echoed in his mind. 

When you drifted with someone, you rarely needed words. It didn’t stop the words from existing. It just delayed them for a time, until they were necessary.

*

He’d apologized. Mako had accepted. They’d talked a little while about the Marshall, before retiring. Raleigh found he couldn’t sleep, as drained as he felt. There’d been something cathartic about releasing the cluster of emotions he’d held to so tightly from the moment Yancy had been torn away. He spent hours allowing himself to look into Yancy’s memories. To touch his brother’s thoughts and feelings again. Maybe, if he’d done this years earlier, he wouldn’t have overwhelmed Mako during their first drift.

There was a dizzying sense of relief, of peace, in listening to Yancy again. As if all the time he’d spent suppressing him was the real cause of his fall from grace. Yancy had a surprising amount to say. Relevant moments, suffused in drift memory floating free to interact with Raleigh in what was the closest thing to a heart to heart he’d ever have with his brother now. 

He’d cried again; on his own this time. Partly in fear that this would be all his brother had left seeded in his memory. Mostly because Mako had been right. Raleigh _was_ afraid. Hell, he was _terrified_. And up until the moment he’d stopped feeling that cold morning he woke alone in a hospital bed, he’d always run to Yancy. Some part of him was still five years old, running full out, heart thudding and blood rushing, the world pitching beneath his feet. Looking for those arms that were always just out of sight, awaiting him. 

He let himself mourn the loss of his brother, his best friend, and in all the ways that had ever mattered to a Jaeger pilot, his soul mate. 

And then he had gotten up, taken a shower and gone back to medical. 

“Crazy story,” he said, sighing heavily and raking a hand through his hair. “I know. But, I swear it’s the truth. Only _I_ could have something this fucked up happen after everything else. But, you know what, Chuck? I’m not sorry it happened. Sure, I wouldn’t have chosen this if asked, but, I think...I think this kid will be good for me.” He stood, drawing the unconscious pilot’s hand to his abdomen. “I think it’ll be good for you too. Like it or not, this baby is a part of us.” He cocked his head, a challenge in his eyes. “Are you honestly going to just lay there and let me have sole influence over how it grows up?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating this one as controlled as I can manage, but as Christmas is looming on the horizon, I am trying to get as many chapters out as possible, before the inevitable cold stretch of being consumed by the holiday. I'll try to give a head's up in the chapter before I think I might disappear. I understand how much it can suck to go from lots of updates to none, and I apologize in advance. I just figure, a lot of updates and then a pause might be better than none for an extended period. 
> 
> Also, all tags will be addressed in time. I promise.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changing point of view for a few chapters. After all, there are two people in this relationship. Yep, that's right! Guess who's awake! 
> 
> I wanna apologize in advance for my Americanisms. If any Australians wanna help me convert some of them to Aussie-isms, I would be grateful. 
> 
> First bit is all courtesy of the good people who created Pacific Rim, and several very well loved formats of said film.

_”Stacker! That’s my son you got there! My SON!”_

_“He’s right outside! We gotta get out of here! Now!”_

_“Hang on, Striker! We’re coming to you!”_

_“Well, my father always said, he said if you have the shot, you take it. So, let’s do this!”_

_“Now, you and I are the only thing standing between that ugly bastard and a city of ten million people. Now, we have a choice here! We either sit and wait, or we take these flare guns and do something really stupid!”_

_“We can still reach you! We’re coming for you!”_

_“Marshall! What’re you doing?!”_

_“Raleigh, this is my son, Chuck. He’s my co-pilot now.”_

_“She can’t control her drift! And he went out of phase first! We can’t afford mistakes! The Kaiju keep evolving! They keep kicking our asses! He’s a has-been. She’s a rookie. I don’t want them tainting MY bombrun! Sir!”_

_“We can clear a path. For the lady.”_

_“Come on, Gipsy! Kick his ass!”_

_“Hey! This is over! You’re a Ranger for Christ’s sake! Why don’t you start acting like one!”_

_“Just hold on, Cherno! We’re on our way!”_

_“I carry nothing into the drift. No memories, no fear, no rank. And as for you, well you’re easy. You’re an egotistical jerk with Daddy issues. A simple puzzle I solved on day one. But you are your father’s son. So we’ll drift just fine.”_

_“You are to hold your ground. Do not engage. We need you to carry that bomb!”_

_“Today. Today. At the edge of our hope. At the end of our time. We’ve chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there’s not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door. And bring the fight to them. Today, we are cancelling the Apocalypse!”_

_“No! Don’t disengage!”_

_“And here’s the thing, Raleigh, I want to come back from this mission. Because I quite like my life.”_

_“We did, sir. Six years ago. My brother and I. It was a three Jaeger team drop.”_

_“So, you’re the guy, eh? You’re the guy who’s going to run defense for me in that old rust bucket of your’s.”_

_“It’s Raleigh.”_

_“When you drift with someone, you feel like there’s nothing to talk about. I just don’t want to regret all the things that I’ve never said out loud.”_

His entire body felt dead. Which, given what he could last remember, was probably not too far off. He didn’t quite hurt, exactly, so there was no comforting pain to reassure him of his physical status. At the same time, _everything_ hurt. But, in the way the absence of something hurt. The filling in of pain by the mind because there was no other suitable, comprehensible option. It either hurt, or it itched like a motherfucker. Actually, he couldn’t exactly tell the difference between the two at the moment. 

His head swam. Mind processing too much all at once. Memories crashing down loudly over too acute sensory updates. The world was too bright, too loud, too quiet, too big, too small...up was down and down was left and left was right and right was peanut butter. 

“C…...hu…….c….k….”

It was difficult to differentiate between so much stimuli, but as much as he enjoyed being a pain in the ass about their relationship, it was a knee-jerk reaction to respond to his father. He couldn’t be sure whether his Dad was calling him from the drift or elsewhere, but it was something to focus on, so he latched on tight and let his father’s voice wash over him, concentrating on the familiar cadence. 

“Ch……..u……...ck….”

Warmth spread through him. Emotions, memories not his own exploded in his head. Love. Pure and strong, and wild and crazy, and wasn’t it amazing the overwhelming feeling of instantaneous, unadulterated, completely encompassing LOVE for this tiny person you’d never even met. Tiny, tiny person...so fragile...so **beautiful**. God, he’s so BEAUTIFUL.

“Chuck!”

A father. He is a _father_. He. Is someone’s father. 

“Chuck!”

He’s a father. 

“Chuck!”

He’s a father. And his son is the most beautiful thing in the entire world. His precious, innocent baby. Who lights up when he sees him, like he’s hung the stars. Like he’s the whole world. His baby is his whole world. Their baby. Their beautiful, wonderful, brilliant baby. 

“Charles.”

And he’s...and he’s...He’s too far away. No time. Have to choose. Have to choose. I’m so sorry, love. I’m going to get him. I swear I’ll protect him. I’m so, so sorry!

“Charlie.”

Chuck was shocked out of the drift, eyes opening to take in the world. It was out of focus, and swimming dangerously, but it was there. His father was there too. Hovering over him, holding his hand, peering into his eyes with a look...well, Chuck didn’t exactly have his full vocabulary at the moment. He was sure it was something along the lines of concern and relief, and something a lot like tears. 

Maybe they’d failed. 

“Do-n’t...call...m-e...th-at,” he croaked. Peanut Butter was apt. Or maybe more like cotton wool. Everything felt like it was strained. As if he hadn’t used his body in a very long while. 

“Chuck!” his father sobbed softly, before promptly burying his face in the crook of his shoulder, holding him as close as he dared. Chuck wasn’t aware of how his body was situated, or where they were - though he could guess the latter with a fair amount of accuracy, he knew. All he knew was that his body was shit at responding to his brain’s admittedly crappy, weak demands, when it focused at all. 

He tried to embrace his father back, but found none of his limbs responsive. He grunted in frustration, even as his body relaxed in his father’s hold. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to be hugged. He figured, after what he’d just sacrificed and the shape he currently found himself in, a little indulgence couldn’t hurt. 

Especially when the man whose arms were around him at current, was entirely Hercules Hansen, father, with no hint of any other aspect of his persona. It had been so long...actually, no, Chuck couldn’t ever recall a time when his father hadn’t been a soldier. Though, he had memories not his own that provided him with evidence that it had once, in fact, been otherwise. 

Hercules Hansen, father, who stroked his hair and back. Who held him close in a protective embrace that threatened any who would dare approach. Who pressed kisses of all things wherever they fell between murmured assurances of love and relief, and promises to make things better. 

Eventually, his arms responded to his pleas, and Chuck squeezed his father’s forearms with as much strength as he could muster. Which, apparently was on par with runt of the litter, weak ass kitten. Herc didn’t mind one bit. One would think Chuck had just done something miraculous.

Perhaps he had.

*

It took an entire week for Chuck to regain his bearings. A week of trying and failing. A week of stubbornly refusing to let his body’s weakness determine his actions. In that week, he had managed to learn very little about what had happened.

His father was the Marshall now. The PPDC was still renegade, and they preferred it that way - Chuck had to agree with them there. Prior to his (and Stacker’s) re-emergence, there had only been three pilots left in the world. His father. Mako. And Raleigh Becket. 

Chuck did his best to ignore the fact that everyone _but_ Becket had been by to see him. Even the K-Science crew. Most of whom, he couldn’t stand. 

Oh, and it had been fourteen - fifteen now - weeks since the Breach had been closed. _Fourteen_ fucking _weeks_. And him in a coma. He felt so heroic. 

Of course, he was grateful to have survived. It hadn’t been a picnic. They’d jettisoned their auxiliary and waited the barest of moments before toggling the switch to blow the payload. They couldn’t afford the Kaiju catching on and moving out of range. It had worked, but it had also sent them three miles into the seabed. They’d known fairly early in that they were screwed. Hadn’t bothered keeping cheery about it. The first two weeks, they’d rationed their survival supplies as heavily as they could manage. Stacker had wanted to avoid being a guinea pig again if he could help it. 

He couldn’t help it. After two weeks, the radiation sickness was taking it’s toll, and Chuck had put his foot down. He’d offered to put Stacker under and wait around another week on what was left of their measly pod rations trying to contact LOCCENT or anyone else on various frequencies, before going under himself if unsuccessful. Stacker had pulled rank. Right there in the fucking pod and Chuck had not been able to disobey. Stacker Pentecost was as much a father to him as anyone, including his own. After so many years...it was a gut reaction. The obedience of a Ranger, of a son, of a friend who trusted implicitly. The resignation of a co-pilot. However, he was _still_ his father’s son. He’d allowed Stacker to put him under on the grounds that they went under together. Surprisingly, Stacker hadn’t argued. Moreover, the man had paused in the middle of preparations and turned to look at him. Chuck had stilled in response, the emergency lights flickering around them as they diverted power. Stacker set his task aside, crossed the small space and drew Chuck close. “You’re a good son,” he’d said. “And a fine Ranger. I’m proud of you.”

Chuck had returned the hug tightly then, throat closing around any words he might say. They hadn’t drifted more than the one time, but he had the feeling Stacker knew regardless. As if accepting Chuck’s train of thought, Stacker stepped back, held him by the shoulders and gave them a squeeze, and Chuck a steady gaze, before returning to his task. It was a moment or two before Chuck was able to do the same. 

“Stacker…” he’d said as they lay in the pods, listening to the mechanical voice count down. “Thank you...for everything. For Dad and...you really love him-us.”

“I do,” Stacker had replied. The way he’d said it implied more. So much more. And Chuck had swallowed to steady himself before replying. He’d never gotten the chance. The countdown had hit one and the gas that signaled the first stage released. His last thought was, ‘I want to have that someday.’

*

It never ceased to amaze him how a stay in hospital could be both the most boring, dragging event a body could participate in, and yet, also go by so quickly. A week later, he was cleared. They hadn’t needed to tell him twice. He’d changed and hauled ass.

Max was happy to see him. 

Chuck couldn’t believe it had been _months_ since they had last seen one another. Max hadn’t been allowed into intensive care, and the medical team hadn’t signed Chuck out of it until he’d been cleared entirely. His father - the goddamn Marshall - went along with their every heinous little demand. About halfway through Chuck had snapped. They’d argued, loud and long and with a definite threat to inanimate objects. He suspected they’d both felt better then. More natural, as if the separation had never happened. 

As far as Max was concerned, Chuck had been gone as long as he’d always been gone. With a few hours equating veritable eons. Which meant he had a bulldog up his ass and underfoot everywhere, but he was so happy to be cleared and reunited with his best friend, that he barely complained. When he did, it was to his father and always seemed to lighten the old man’s day. So he didn’t bother holding back - not that that had ever stopped him before. 

He decided to go by the Kwoon and look at the new Rangers in residence. He hadn’t been cleared for active duty, but that wouldn’t be a problem, as he doubted anyone was worth the spar. As he wandered around the perimeter, he took in snippets of conversations, filing them away for later reconstruction. It seemed as if _Captain_ Becket was lord and master of the space now, but hadn’t set foot in it for a few weeks. As Marshall Hansen had apparently laid into him about something in regard to his health and effectively banned him. 

Chuck wasn’t able to find out _what_ was wrong with Raleigh. No one seemed to know. They didn’t even have good enough guesses, given, all their reasons fell far short when set up against his piloting Tacit Ronin for a mission. There was no way his father would have allowed Raleigh to jockey if he hadn’t been up to snuff. And medical would have barred him the same way they had grounded Stacker for years. 

Curious, Chuck had set out in search of the elusive Raleigh Becket. 

It was Max who found him in the end. Chuck had just turned a corner, when the bulldog barked excitedly and bounded off in the other direction. The duplicitous little ingrate. Chuck had initially been determined to wait imperiously until he returned. Then he heard, “Hey, you,” in a smoky baritone and felt his insides leap to attention. He was moving before he even registered the desire. Following the happy sounds Max made when with someone he really cared about. 

Raleigh was crouching down, knees spread uncharacteristically wide, scratching at Max’s head with both hands. A laundry list of potential injuries sprung to mind immediately. Chuck found himself desperately hoping it wasn’t some kind of paralyzation. Though, that would have impeded the blond’s ability to pilot, if it was mild enough, with no threat of Kaiju attack, and no other options, Chuck could see his father allowing it. 

Raleigh smiled at Max, accepting a slobbery kiss to the jaw and a snuffle against his midsection, before easing himself up. Chuck noted he held one hand against his back and used the other to brace himself against the wall. The pull of his face implied that the injury was still fresh. He patted his leg, the arm that had supported him against the wall, tucking close to his side. If Chuck hadn’t just seen him extend it, he’d have worried the arm had gone cold. Max toddled up behind the older Ranger, panting joyfully in his wake. 

Neither Raleigh nor Chuck were aware of how close they were, for the next moment, they were crashing into one another. Chuck’s arm snapped out, closing about Raleigh’s waist reflexively and tugging him gently, but firmly back into an upright position. 

Raleigh stared at him. 

Chuck couldn’t even _begin_ to try to understand the jumble of emotions in those blue eyes. It would take forever to untangle them without the drift, he was sure. With everyone but a co-pilot, talking had to suffice. 

“Hey,” he greeted. His own voice surprised him. Devoid of the arrogant ego he usually drew so closely about him to keep others at bay. 

“Hey,” Raleigh replied, equally compromised. He flexed his hands. Making an aborted motion, before following through and settling a hand tentatively against Chuck’s shoulder. 

Chuck’s own arm remained comfortably about him. “You didn’t come to visit me.” He sounded petulant, but he couldn’t help it just then. 

“I visited you every day you were unconscious,” the American countered, surprising him. 

“What changed?”

“You woke up.”

Chuck’s brow furrowed, frustration gathering. “That’s generally when you’re _supposed_ to visit people in hospital, you know,” Chuck informed him, not entirely testily. 

Raleigh just shrugged. Though it looked like he wanted to say more, but couldn’t. 

Chuck stepped closer. 

Raleigh stepped back. 

It wasn’t like the other Ranger to be so coy. Chuck took another step. Raleigh took another backward. It didn’t take long to crowd him against the wall. The fact that Raleigh could - and had - effectively kick his ass if he felt so inclined encouraged Chuck to continue crowding him. If Raleigh wanted to get out, he’d get out. Chuck didn’t know why he was holding back now, but he suspected it had to do with the fact that neither of them had died. And maybe the fact that Raleigh had been under the impression that Chuck _had_. 

The thought was sobering and gave Chuck the courage he never would have found without it. Raleigh wouldn’t be running from him if his death hadn’t hurt him deeply. Which meant that Raleigh had cared about him enough to mourn him and be unwilling to accept him back to do it again. He had another thing coming if he thought that was going to work. 

Chuck had wanted Raleigh since he was a teenager with ditzy fantasies he’d never breathe word to another soul about - it was bad enough his Dad knew. When Raleigh had not only kissed him back, but drawn him so close their bodies tangled, it was like a dream come true. Chuck had allowed himself to fall into the fantasy come to life. Indulging freely because he was convinced one or more of them were going to die, and he would never have another chance. 

Except he _had_ survived. Regardless of those weeks when no one had been aware of the fact. Raleigh had survived. Had survived and had mourned him enough to warrant a rabbiting. Which was...sweet actually. Kind of endearing. Not that Chuck was likely to admit that to anyone. Ever. Especially Raleigh. 

“Didn’t you miss me at all, Raleigh?” he asked, leaning forward. 

Raleigh tilted back to keep distance between them, but met with solid bulkhead. Chuck didn’t miss the sound, suspiciously like a whimper, when he drawled his name. 

“Chuck…” Raleigh husked. He squirmed, as if trying to keep their bodies from coming together. 

Chuck cocked a wicked grin. He was probably hard. Good. Chuck was half hard himself - fucking libido was still lagging thanks to the damn stasis chamber. He might need a little more time than he would have before, but he was fairly sure he could get it up and keep it up. Maybe have some fun in between states. 

He drew his tongue over his lips, watching in amusement as Raleigh’s mouth mirrored the action. “No welcome home, kiss? Ranger.” He stepped into Raleigh, easing his knee between the blond’s legs. Raleigh spread them instantly, making Chuck smile. “To Ranger.”

He closed the distance between them - or tried to. At first, he thought Raleigh had braced both hands to his midsection, but further inspection proved he hadn’t moved them. One was still at Chuck’s shoulder, fingers curled into his jacket. The other rested against his thigh in a fist. A non threatening, self controlling gesture, but hand accounted for, all the same. 

Confused, Chuck looked down, frowning when he realized the solid presence restricting him was the other Ranger’s abdomen. His alarmingly distended abdomen. “Raleigh…”

“About that kiss…”


	5. Chapter Five

“You had _no right_ to keep him from me!”

“Chuck,” his father began, voice decidedly gentle. “Think about it! How would you have reacted to waking from the trauma-” Chuck snorted. “To have this suddenly thrust upon you, before you had even had a chance to get your bearings?”

“I don’t _need_ protecting, old man!” He jerked a finger at him, pointing roughly. “It was _my_ decision to make! If I freaked out and punched him, it’d be on me!”

“If you’d freaked out and punched him, he would have kicked your ass like he did the last time. Which would have made you both feel like crap. You for hitting a pregnant man. Him for subduing an injured one with force. Even pregnant, Becket’s proven to be a tough man to take down.” 

A distinct feeling of pride bloomed in Chuck’s chest. Something he hadn’t felt for Raleigh since he was a teenager. Even given his accomplishment in Hong Kong Bay. Gratitude and grudging respect had found him then. This...was something else entirely. 

Herc noticed, though Chuck was positive there were no outward signs. “I’m noticing a distinct lack of you freaking out,” his father added, warily. 

Chuck shrugged. “I already knew.”

When his father’s brows pinched together in confusion, Chuck decided to spare him any run around. “Raleigh’d been visiting me while I was in the coma,” he clarified, to Herc’s nod. “He’d been keeping me updated. I didn’t realize it right away...Got too distracted by everything else. But when he told me…” His mouth upturned in a smirk. “You should have seen his face!” 

_”I said I’m_ pregnant _, Hansen,” Raleigh deadpanned._

 _“I_ heard _you, Becket.”_

 _“It’s_ your’s _.”_

_Chuck, having wrapped both arms about Raleigh during his initial launch into explanation - the better to keep him there - tugged him close. The blond’s now identified baby bump met his - not quite as flat as he liked to keep it - abdomen in a satisfying way. “It better be.”_

_Raleigh’s mouth opened to reply, but seemed to stall. Or perhaps his brain had stalled. The look on his face was a clear enough indication that if he’d practiced what he’d said, or run over the simulation of their conversation in his head at all, Chuck’s reaction had never factored into Raleigh’s perceived mental plans. It amused Chuck that he’d managed to surprise him, even if he’d managed to surprise himself as well._

_He_ believed _him. He couldn’t say_ why _, but he did. Every word out of Raleigh’s mouth registered in him with a distinct lack of gravity. It was as if the man was simply stating facts Chuck was already well aware of, and had long ago accepted as reality._

_Leaning into his personal space, he brushed the tip of his tongue over the American’s upper lip in a soft, arching swipe. Raleigh jolted as if he’d been stuck with a cattle prod. “If I kiss you again, will it be twins?”_

 _Despite himself - he was fairly certain - Raleigh laughed._

_Chuck didn’t wait for him to respond. He closed the rest of the distance between them and claimed Raleigh’s mouth. The kiss...was like no kiss either had ever experienced. He could tell from the look in Becket’s eyes when he drew away to catch his breath. They hadn’t put much effort into it. Merely touched their lips together in a tender, assessing way. But the jolt that had gone through them both as their mouths met had left them both panting hard. Chuck wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t just come in his pants like an overstimulated kid._

_They stared at one another. With decidedly more lust than confusion. Chuck surprised himself again with the rush of possessiveness that flooded him suddenly. He wanted to drag Raleigh to his room and set about the baby making the proper way. Wanted to mark him with his teeth, and leave him smelling of sex and Chuck so everyone would know. Wanted to set him up there, where he belonged. Because Raleigh, and the baby within him, were Chuck’s. And anyone who was stupid enough to try and get in the way of that…_

_“Why didn’t you come visit me?” he rasped, forcing himself to concentrate on something he could actually do something about. “When I regained consciousness, why didn’t you come visit me?”_

_Raleigh’s eyes drifted from his and Chuck found himself turning his head to try to reclaim them._

_“Hey.” His fingertips smoothed against the skin of Raleigh’s back, having rucked up his sweater at some point, and burrowing beneath it. “You can tell me,” he coaxed, resisting the urge to bury his face in Raleigh’s neck and breathe him in._

_Raleigh’s own fingers curved about the material at his elbows. He sighed heavily, eyes meeting Chuck’s again. “Your dad had me barred.”_

_“_ **What?** _” he bit out._

_He sighed again, leaning imperceptibly into Chuck’s embrace. “I didn’t like it at first, but he was right. You had a right to wake up and recover without this looming over you.”_

_“Like hell!” he snapped back._

_“Chuck.” Raleigh’s hand smoothed over his chest. “Calm down.”_

_He did - to his furthered surprise. The moment Raleigh touched him, he could feel the anger drifting away. Replaced by a calmness he’d never experienced before._

_“We should probably go to medical,” Raleigh said._

_It took Chuck a moment to hear him through the unfamiliar, but strangely welcome, feeling. “Why?” he replied, blinking at him._

_“Because something’s going on here.” He gestured between them. “I doubt either of us should be handling this conversation so...composed.”_

_He had to give him that._

_“Besides…” He looked away again for a moment, before his eyes returned to Chuck’s. “I don’t know about you, but I’m having some...really weird urges, I’m pretty sure never belonged in me.”_

_Chuck tongued the bond’s earlobe, sparking pleasure in both of them. “Yeah,” he agreed after a moment. “Maybe you’re right.”_

“Did you go to medical?”

“What?” Chuck blinked, confused by the sudden shift in his perception. 

“Did you go to medical?” his father repeated, firmly.

“Did I just say all that out loud?” he wondered.

“Where’s Raleigh?”

Chuck’s teeth clenched together, something inside him not liking the way his father had just said Raleigh’s name. He knew, on a rational level, that Herc was angry with _him_ , but his mind only registered Raleigh’s name in a dangerous tone, and he had the wildest urge to punch his father in the face. 

Herc must have seen it in him, because he took a mental step back. Voice calming and hands braced where Chuck could see them. “Chuck,” he said, gentle but firm. The voice of a father talking to his son. “Where’s Raleigh now?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled, releasing the tension. “K-Science main lab.”

“I think we should join him.”

*

“This...is… _ **incredible**_!” Newt gushed, hands flailing slightly as he regarded them.

Chuck and Raleigh sat side by side on an examination table, after several days of testing, about ready to lose control over both their tempers. Chuck could feel the angry buzz of Raleigh’s impatience and reached over to take his hand. Their fingers twined together and the buzzing eased. 

The scientist twitched some more, doing an odd sort of dance between the layout on the screen and the pair of Rangers on the table. No one apparently, could interpret it, because they were all staring blankly at him. Except for Hermann. 

“Newt!” Herc barked. “Spit it out!”

“They’re _drifting_!”

Chuck was thankful his own scoffing sound was in chorus. “Newt, mate, we’ve never even stepped into a sim together. And even if we had, we can’t be ghost drifting. One time wouldn’t have locked a connection like that. It takes _years_.” Or a serious trauma shared by both pilots that united them in untangleable ways. He suspected Mako and Raleigh knew something about that, though neither had said. He might as well, with Stacker, but he couldn’t be sure with Stacker still in a coma and wasn’t about to bring it up with his father. 

“Maybe if you were ghost drifting, yeah. But you’re not. You’re drifting. Right now! You have been since...probably since you regained consciousness, Chuck. Maybe even before.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Raleigh replied. “How-”

“And not just with each other!”

They stared at him. 

“The baby is drifting with you!”

Chuck and Raleigh shared a horrified look that Newt waved away. “It’s not going to hurt ‘im. Baby Kaiju are part of the hive mentality as soon as their cortex develops-”

“Our baby’s not a Kaiju!” Chuck snapped.

“No, no, not saying that!” Newt was quick to reply, arms waving. 

“Then what _are_ you saying?” Raleigh ground out. 

“You should both take a deep breath,” Hermann interrupted, moving to stand by Newt in their line of sight. “You’re sharing emotions, and the more upset you make each other, the more strain Raleigh’s body is forced to process. We want to keep his stress levels as low as possible for the baby’s sake.”

The fight left Chuck immediately. Which should have scared the fuck out of him, but didn’t. He drew Raleigh’s arm into his lap, stroking up it with the fingers of his free hand to relax him. Raleigh resisted at first - Chuck could feel it inside - but eventually relented. Chuck exhaled Raleigh’s inhale - without either noticing - and the set of both’s shoulders eased. 

“The Kaiju’s hive mind mentality is based on the Precursers own perception on how socio-mental connections are supposed to operate. When we create something, we create it with our own understanding of how the universe operates. Which is different from species to species. Social order and relationships are based entirely on how we communicate and the way in which we process the information we gather. When they reached the limits of the Anteverse’s sustainability, they opened up their bridge technology, which was about the only thing they had left that was purely from their original homeworld. Even the Precursers themselves aren’t all the same, generation to generation. Just like the Kaiju aren’t from world to world. Which means the matrix of the transporter capabilities operate within a set parameter determined by the Precurser’s perceptions of how space and matter exist.”

“Newton,” Hermann warned. 

“Right, sorry! So, when you-” He gestured to Raleigh with both hands, arms extended like he was presenting him something. “Went through the matrix, it altered you to fit it’s parameters. Genes...they’re a lot like code. Change a few lines here and there, and the subsequent generations can breathe underwater. With humans, evolution takes time, even though we’ve managed some extraordinary leaps and bounds when you take into consideration just how long we-”

“Newton.”

“But it couldn’t change you fundamentally. You’re human, and that is outlined clearly in your genetic code. It couldn’t change you in any way that would have altered you so completely that your own body wouldn’t recognize itself. That would have killed you. So it...tinkered. And we primed you for it!” He started shaking in that way of his that generally suggested his mind was lightyears ahead of the conversation and he was struggling to keep focused for the plebeians. “What with compatibility testing, and Kaiju exposure, and vaccinations and the pons system and neural bridging...You’re still human, you always were, you all are. But...those things. Those things affect the body in adaptive ways. They stimulate our evolutionary tracks. It left you open to adjustment and that’s exactly what happened! In order to survive entry into the Anteverse, you had to conform to the matrix’s understanding of matter formation. But, it, likewise had to adjust for you - it’s primary directive is to keep life forms alive through the transfer. The adjustments are built in so the Precursers and the Kaiju can survive both the journey, and the new world’s differentiation, with minimal to no loss of population.”

“So what does it _mean_?” Chuck asked.

Newt’s response was half agonized groan, half exasperated sigh. “It _means_ that while Raleigh is still functionally human, he gained a few extra abilities on his trip. Little things. That adjusted his body chemistry just enough to make him viable both to Precursor standards, and human ones. But because the matrix had never encountered a human before, it didn’t know what to imbue him with, so it sort of hit a restore all.”

“Which means…” Raleigh hedged.

“Which means,” Newt sighed. “You now have two sets of functional reproductive organs. You’re fully capable of siring young and carrying them yourself. You can communicate with your mate-” He pointed at Chuck. “To the benefit of both you and your offspring. The territorial nature is temporary. They don’t mate for life. But mating - in this context, the production of viable offspring - is a dangerous affair, given all the parameters involved for them. Even if the pregnant mate is fully capable of protecting themselves, for the furthering of the species, they’ve evolved temporary mating bonds, which keep mates together for the time it takes the young to gestate. One mate…” He pointed at Raleigh. “Prepares for the arrival. The other mate…” He pointed at Chuck. “Protects and defends them until they are able to do so again with their full strength and mobility.” 

“So...I’m forcing Chuck to-”

“No, nothing like that!” Newt interrupted. His “no” echoed forcefully by Chuck himself. He may not fully understand what was going on, but he knew his feelings for Raleigh were genuine. They’d existed _before_ they’d found themselves in this situation. And he was sure they’d exist _after_ the baby was born. He was a territorial bastard already. He didn’t need Anteverse whohaa to explain _that_. His father didn’t either. 

“Chuck’s territorial by nature,” Herc said breezily. “It’s the Australian in him.”

Chuck snorted. 

Raleigh looked to him and he smiled to ease the blond’s discomfort. “Once you agreed to be mine in any way, we were headed that way,” he assured him. He leaned in to press a fond kiss to his lips. “You can fight me over it after the baby’s born if you like. But, I doubt it’s going to make me any less possessive of you.” He smiled at him. “Might make it more fun though.”

“For who?” Raleigh shot back, playfully. There was an ease to his reply that reassured Chuck. Good. They may have started all wrong, but they had plenty of time to craft an ending that would dazzle generations. 

He kissed him again, delighting in the way Raleigh conformed to him whenever they got close. 

“The uh...sexual urges,” Newt pointed out delicately. “Those are all you guys. Kaiju rarely actually get the chance to mate. And Precursers...well, they have a mating fury, but it’s to just make sure the mate carries. After...it’s all business. You two...probably have a lot to work out. But, it’s all normal human stuff. The Anteverse has nothing to do with it.”

“And the baby?” Herc asked. 

“The baby’s inherited it’s parents best genetic qualities. Since the conception happened in the matrix - likely due to the fact that it interpreted Chuck’s genes as those of Raleigh’s mate’s, and having no understanding of human reproductive methods, figured Raleigh’d been seeded and made sure it took - even if you have other kids…” He avoided their eyes as he said it. “They won’t be as genetically superior as this one.”

“Genetically superior,” echoed several voices. 

Newt sighed. “When we reproduce, it’s a crap shoot. Genes interact, and the body hopes for the best. Which isn’t always the case. In the Anteverse, where Kaiju are created with precision, only the best genetic qualities are considered viable. The matrix would have an understanding of that, and would have combined Chuck and Raleigh’s DNA to form a child who inherited all the best qualities their genes had to offer.” 

“So...no Olympics for our kid, because it’d be cheating,” Chuck said, unconsciously mirroring Raleigh’s thoughts. 

“Actually,” Newt replied, excitedly. “It’s a proven fact that Olympians-”

“IF there is an Olympics in existence, when the child is of age,” Hermann cut in. “The only argument you would find yourselves having with the committee would be whether the child competed for America or Australia.”

Chuck and Raleigh eyed each other sideways. 

“Right,” Herc interrupted, before they could start. “So at the crux of it, everyone’s healthy, we’ll have to keep an eye out for Anteverse investments, but otherwise, all signs point to this just being a fluke of nature and science meeting in an as heretofore unparalleled way.” 

“Yes,” both scientists agreed. 

“All right then,” he continued, slapping both hands together. “Everyone back to work! Raleigh, Mako, Chuck, lunch.”

*

“It’s a good thing Newt and Hermann drifted with the Kaiju when they had the chance,” Raleigh sighed. “I don’t know where we’d be if they didn’t have so much they could tell us about how this all works.”

Chuck crossed over to him, pressing up against his back. He wrapped both arms around him and drew him close, feeling Raleigh relax in his embrace. He kissed him at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. “We’d still be two blokes with a baby on the way.” He pressed his mouth to Raleigh’s neck and closed his eyes, basking in his presence. 

“Chuck…”

“Hmm?”

“Do you...do you _want_ the baby?”

He didn’t dishonor Raleigh or their baby by answering right away. Instead, taking a minute to think about his response. “Never thought I’d have sprogs of my own,” he replied honestly. “Hadn’t figured on living long enough to find someone to settle down with and start a family. Didn’t think it’d be worth considering in my life time, if we’re being honest.” His hands moved to Raleigh’s bump, fingers spreading as they smoothed over it. “Might not be the most conventional way, but who gives a damn about that? It’s not our style anyway.”

He could feel Raleigh’s smile, even though he couldn’t see it. 

“Want it’s Mama too,” he husked, rocking his hips into Raleigh’s. He wasn’t hard; it was the principle of the thing. 

Raleigh choked out a laugh. “Call me that again, and you’re going to be short one impressive piece of anatomy.”

“Impressive?” Chuck replied with a smirk. “Damn right it’s impressive.”

“Wasn’t talking about your dick, Hansen.”

Chuck turned him around so they were facing each other. “That’s because you haven’t seen it yet, Becket,” he countered, eyes blazing. 

“All talk,” Raleigh breathed, leaning in to kiss him. 

“Mmm...I’ve wanted you since I was a kid, Raleigh,” he admitted breathless. It wasn’t something he would normally admit to, but he could feel Raleigh’s vulnerability, and he wanted to clear a few things up between them first. His lips trailed across Raleigh’s jaw and followed the line of his neck down. “Used to get so hard thinking about you...I’d grab myself and stare at your picture...Keep your eyes while I got off imagining all the things we’d do together if I ever got the chance to meet you…” He paused, lips pressing the kiss he’d started to Raleigh’s shoulder. “It sounded a lot less creepy in my head.”

Raleigh laughed. 

Chuck frowned. It sounded a lot creepy when he said it out loud. 

Raleigh reached for him, hands closing about his face to draw him into another kiss. “I wanted you too.”

“You did?”

“Mmm, yeah. You were such a cocky, arrogant little shit. I wanted to hit you, but I wanted to fuck you more.” He rocked into him. If the baby wasn’t in the way, their groins would have met. It worked on Chuck anyway. “Funny that we got into a fight first. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying.” 

Chuck groaned. 

Raleigh pressed his lips to Chuck’s ear and breathed, “Are you a screamer, Chuck?”

“Fuck, Raleigh,” Chuck groaned, shifting against him in discomfort. 

“That’s the idea…”


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This chapter has sex, a fight, and a shocking revelation for Raleigh.

The sex...oh God the sex…

It had taken some figuring out. Logistics were an issue with the baby to consider. Some positions were just not comfortable for Raleigh. Others, didn’t give them the depth of penetration they both so desperately craved. And still others, they just couldn’t manage, no matter how much they wanted to. 

Raleigh apologized the entire time. Chuck affectionately told him to shut the hell up and eased the bark with kisses. It didn’t matter to him how long it took to find the right way. As long as they came together and found a position that benefited them both. 

In the end, what had worked for them was Raleigh straddling his lap, taking his cock. It was a deeply satisfying position for Chuck, because he got to hold Raleigh in his arms. Feel the slide of his condition against his belly as they moved. It kept him close enough to be directed by Raleigh’s arms, closed tightly around him, hands lost in his hair and fingers indenting his skin. Most of all, it let him see him. Let him watch what their coupling did to Raleigh. The echo of every thrust, and the steady thrum of Raleigh’s mounting pleasure building up in his own chest, amping up his own arousal and responses. 

It had been the most involved sexual encounter of Chuck’s life. With laughing and teasing, kisses and caresses, and two people who only wanted to make each other feel good. He didn’t want to admit - even to himself, because frankly it was disturbing - that it had probably taken them less time to find a comfortable position than it may have, if he didn’t have hints brushing up against his mind from his father’s memories. Generally, he tried to block out anything that involved his parents. Especially sex, though anything incredibly intimate was off limits too. It was a respect between Rangers, not to linger on their personal intimacies. But, it was also damn uncomfortable when those memories also revolved around one’s own begetting. 

After the first time, they’d lain in one another’s arms, stroking and taking stock in their own minds. Neither had had a relationship quite like the one they were on the cusp of venturing into. And while they may have both been apprehensive, he found that like himself, once Raleigh made up his mind to do something, he was all in. 

The second time, he let Raleigh take control. A sign of trust, and his dedication to the daunting path that lay before them. The third time, Raleigh had been demanding, which had found copious amounts of enthusiasm within Chuck. By the fourth...Chuck was surprised Raleigh could get it up. 

“Chuck…” Raleigh wheedled, rocking his belly into Chuck’s side. 

Chuck felt stirrings, like he always did when physically reminded of Raleigh’s condition, but stirrings were his limit, for the moment. 

“Can you seriously go again?” he rasped, lifting his head to look down at Raleigh, whose chin rested over his pectoral. 

In answer, Raleigh hooked a leg over his and pressed his erection into Chuck’s thigh. 

“Christ mate. That’s some refractory period you’ve got.” 

“I’ve always been good for a few rounds,” Raleigh admitted. “But…”

“Baby’s got you hornier than a thicket.” 

Raleigh nodded. 

“Been horny a lot lately?” Chuck asked conversationally, reaching down to stroke him. 

“I-oh..” Raleigh rocked into him. “Yeah...pretty much constantly since...I passed...into my second...trimester-Do that again!”

Chuck did. And was rewarded with a lovely moan. “Been taking care of it on your own?” He didn’t want to consider that before he’d woken up, he’d essentially been dead to Raleigh, who could have easily moved on to anyone else. He was definitely attractive enough to have anyone he wanted. Anyone who then got to know him…

Raleigh shook his head. “Mostly...trying…to ignore it-Chuck!”

He **loved** the sound of his name when Raleigh was naked and moving against him. 

“Well...I can’t get it up again. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time.”

He kissed his way down Raleigh’s chest and belly. 

“Chuck...it’s okay, really...I can…”

“Shut up and let me blow you, Becket. I’m a bit attached to you now, yeah? And this.” He gave him a solid tug that earned a throaty groan. “Not going to be doing anything but enjoying myself. So just lay back and enjoy it too. Yeah?”

Raleigh did. He’d enjoyed it so much, Chuck had managed to get it up again. 

Their final coming together was lazy and laconic. Consisting mostly of a spooning position that maximized contact without sacrificing energy they no longer had. Raleigh gripped him close, Chuck pinned him with his body, and even their names were sparse as they breathed and kissed and existed as one entity for a while. 

Raleigh had completely worn him out. Not that Chuck was complaining. 

He’d woken up to a cheery...they hadn’t quite _defined_ their status...Regardless, Raleigh was apparently a morning person. It was something that otherwise would have annoyed the everloving shit out of Chuck. Except, Raleigh in the morning was unlike Raleigh at any other time of day. He was happy and open, bright and ready to take on the day. 

They were learning things about one another. Like the fact that despite Chuck being an absolute grump when woken, Raleigh was completely unfazed. If anything, he seemed to know exactly how to navigate Chuck’s mood until his own had rubbed off. Chuck would feel antagonistic about it, if having Raleigh around in the morning, after an extended night of the best sex Chuck had ever managed in his entire life, didn’t just make him want to smile and greet everyone he saw. He didn’t, of course. He was Charles fucking Hansen and they could all shove their plucky morning attitudes. But, it was hard not to smile when Raleigh sang in the shower, hummed as he got dressed, and all but danced out the door. 

Max fed off Raleigh’s energy until it was like having two excitable dogs. The baby did too, which generally left Raleigh in need of a nap by the afternoon. Chuck - unable to explain why, but needing to - had joined him. Curling up around him, with his hand over where their baby rested. 

As Raleigh slept, Chuck thought back over snippets of his father’s life. What it had felt like for Herc to suddenly find himself with another person in his life whom he’d helped create, whose welfare was now his responsibility. The wonder of looking at the baby for the first time, the yearning for the connection she’d always had, carrying him. Knowing when he was moving, feeling it before his father had. The first time Herc had felt Chuck move in his mother’s body, he’d cried. Strong, unflappable soldier that he’d been, and he’d fucking cried because Chuck was making himself comfortable. 

Chuck caught himself trying to feel their baby move and rolled his eyes. He smoothed his hand over Raleigh’s belly, pressing his nose into his hair when the blond sighed contentedly. 

It had been love at first sight, as far as Herc had been concerned. Unfathomable, unexplainable, completely encompassing and suddenly there, the moment he’d held Chuck in his arms and looked into his squinty eyes. Chuck wondered if it was like that for all fathers. Wondered if when the baby came, he’d be just as hopeless. Fuck...he hoped he didn’t cry. He’d never hear the end of it. From either of them.

*

They hadn’t moved in together, but word around the Shatterdome was they’d shacked up. They were definitely knocking boots. That much was clear to everyone. Had been since the first morning, when Raleigh had all but bounced into the mess, Chuck strolling casually behind him with Max at his heels.

Chuck could care less what people thought, as long as they kept it to themselves. In actuality, he preferred that everyone knew he and Raleigh had landed one another and were getting enthusiastic, gymnastic sessions out of it. Apparently, they both had reputations for being phenomenal in bed - though he was fairly sure Raleigh’s actual number was about on par with his, and nowhere near the insane exaggerated nonsense that regularly made the rounds about Jaeger pilots. Together, people assumed, they were inventing new ways to do it. 

Raleigh found it all very entertaining. Right up until someone made a comment about his weight gain. They were in the hangar, touring Mako’s newest acquired additions of fallen Jaegers when talk bloomed up amongst one of the crews. 

They ignored it, as they were wont, but were too close for comfort when one technician said to another, “There’s such a thing as too happy though. Once you start to let yourself go, it’s over man.”

“I know what you mean. Becket’ll never keep Hansen around if he doesn’t start visiting the Kwoon again. Hasn’t even been to the gym in weeks.”

“OI!” Chuck snapped, two feet from them. They looked up, eyes widening in sheer terror as he descended on them in a fury. “That’s my _family_ you’re talking about, there!” He paused before them, towering over them with every single one of his seventy-two inches. “If you wanna keep your tongues, I’d suggest you stow your shit **now**. Or I’ll stow it for you.”

“CHUCK!” Herc thundered. 

He swayed in place for a moment, before stepping back, reflexively. He may not like it, but he could never directly ignore his father’s orders. It was too ingrained. 

“What the _hell_ is going on here?” his father demanded, every inch the Marshall at the moment. 

The techs quivered, but couldn’t seem to manage a response. 

“Just a misunderstanding, Dad,” he ground out. “Right?”

They nodded a little too fiercely. 

Chuck sneered at them, before turning around and returning to Raleigh and Mako.

*

“I don’t need you to defend me!” Raleigh shouted. “I can take care of it myself!”

“By letting them talk shit about you? Like fuck! They’re going to show you the goddamn _respect_ you deserve, if I have wipe the hangar with every last one of them!”

“You’re only making it _worse_!”

“It’s going to get a _lot_ worse if they don’t fucking let it go.”

“ _You_ let it go! If you just leave it, they’ll eventually wear themselves down and stop.”

“When, Raleigh? When are they going to give up on this? When you’re waddling around, with an inflated middle? When it’s gone beyond a medical leave of absence straight into questions about what the fuck is wrong with you and why no one’s doing a damn thing about it? Is it going to get better when the baby starts moving? Or ends up bumping into things that weren’t meant to get bumped into? Gonna be easier when you suddenly start in pain, or double over to rub a cramp? What about when you go into labor? Gonna be easier then? How about when the baby comes? Will _that_ make it easier?!” He inhaled sharply, flexing his hands, which had curled into fists at his sides. “Why don’t we just tell everyone and be done with it?”

Raleigh blanched. “ _Tell_ them?”

“Yes, tell them!”

“Tell them _what_ , exactly?! That exposure to the Anteverse left me open to experimentation by hostile aliens, who, by the way, were sending in an extinction force because they wanted our planet. But, hey, it’s okay, because, no, we swear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this baby. There’s zero chance it’s a threat to anyone, and while we’re on the subject, it’s conception was entirely consensual! Do you honestly think that announcing it is going to make it any easier, Chuck?”

“So we don’t tell them everything! But, we shouldn’t hide it like it’s something to be ashamed of!”

“I’m not ashamed!”

“Neither am I!”

“I’m scared!”

That stopped him. “Why?”

Raleigh looked uncomfortable, as though he hadn’t expected to be so honest and air a grievance he’d been keeping private. Which was tough shit, because he wasn’t in this alone and he’d better get used to that right fucking quick. 

Both hands went to his middle to splay protectively over their child. “Do you _have_ to ask?”

“Yes, apparently I do.”

“Chuck, what’s _not_ to be afraid of?” His hands smoothed over his bump until both arms curled about it protectively. Chuck got up and drew him into his arms, keeping their baby safe between them. Raleigh swallowed, but relaxed slightly. Inhaling, he continued, “Look at how interested K-Science is already. Imagine what would happen if the world caught wind of this? Just…” He shuddered. “Our kid…” His face dropped into Chuck’s chest and he mumbled something panicky into Chuck’s shirt. 

Chuck didn’t have to hear him however, because the drift provided the details. They’d never quite managed images before, though he couldn’t be certain whether Raleigh was actually passing them to him, he was picking them up from Raleigh, or some strange combination of insinuation and inference was completing the transference for them. What he saw, he didn’t like. And his arms closed about Raleigh tighter. 

“If you think _any_ of that is ever going to happen, you’re not the man I thought you were.”

Raleigh stiffened and looked up at him, but didn’t try to untangle them.

“It may end in us against the world, but I think you’re forgetting a few important things.” He held up his hand to raise his fingers as he made his points. “We saved it. They owe us.” 

The American snorted, as if expecting that answer. 

“We’re a free agency, and I doubt that’s going to change. Dad watched Stacker fight a losing battle against the morons in charge of the world’s security for years. He’s not about to let them get their hands on us again. Especially now that we have so much in our favor.”

He held up a third finger. “There may be a few of us left, but we’re at least two teams strong, and we have a hangar filling up with Jaegers. Not to mention all your little pet Rangers waiting to be paired up and assigned. We’re going to outnumber them soon. We already outpower them. And if there’s one thing those idiots respond to, it’s efficient, ‘peaceful’ and negotiative displays of power.”

“Start a war with the United Nations over the life of one child.”

“It’s not about our baby and you know it. It’ll be about who is in possession of a ‘miracle of science’. The answer, by the way, will always be it’s parents.”

Raleigh smiled. It was faint, but it was reassuring. 

“Wars have been fought for less. I would rain down hell on anyone who dared to so much as _consider_ taking our baby away from us. And we both know, you would beat me to it every time.”

The smile broadened. “What’s the next argument?”

“This baby is a Hansen. That has a lot of pull, even these days. Dad and Uncle Scott have a lot of friends in high places. And I have a lot of friends in low ones.”

Raleigh chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?”

Chuck shrugged with one shoulder. “They’re more fun.”

“I know.”

“This baby is also a Becket. You saved the _world_ , Raleigh. And there are still plenty of people who owe you and Yancy. And your father.”

“Our poor kid…”

“And we have Stacker. When he wakes up...I do not want to be in their shoes.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I did.”

The blond sighed, rubbing Chuck’s arms. Whether it was to comfort himself or Chuck, he couldn’t say. Maybe it was to reassure himself that Chuck was alive. Maybe even a little bit of everything. 

Chuck rubbed his back in response. “Our baby will be safe, Raleigh. I promise you.” He kissed his forehead. “If I have to climb into a Jaeger and lay waste to the U.N., our baby _will_ be safe.”

“Going to be hard to pilot one alone.”

Chuck raised a brow. “You think Dad won’t be in there with me?”

“Starting a war?”

“This is his grandchild,” Chuck pointed out, poking Raleigh’s side gently. “He’d tear open a new Breach and shove the whole bleeding lot of them through if it meant protecting his blood.”

“I’m not saying I disagree, but I find it hard to believe.”

“Wait ‘til you meet Uncle Scott. You’ll learn.”

Raleigh’s head dropped against his chest, eyes closing as he pressed his face beneath his chin. It was an awfully telling position. Chuck held him close and let him draw strength from him. 

“Besides, when Stacker wakes up, if this isn’t cleared up, he is going to waste no time leveling the entire situation.”

“That’s true.”

“You don’t know that half of it.”

Raleigh looked up at him, skeptically. “I served with him for four years.”

“I lived with him for eleven.” He settled his hand to Raleigh’s belly, fingers curving protectively. “Didn’t you know?” At Raleigh’s blank look, he sighed. “They were really good at keeping it from the brass, but-”

“...You’re shitting me.”

“Congratulations, love,” Chuck drawled. “You’re carrying everyone’s favorite Marshall’s grandchild.”

“...I need to sit down.”

“No you don’t,” Chuck laughed. “Just lean into me, Raleigh. I’ll never let you fall again.” 

Raleigh didn’t hesitate.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are gonna hate me...
> 
> Things are a little nuts right now, so while this is not the official disappearing notice, it is a notice that the next chapter may be delayed a day or two. Or four. Our connection's screwy, I'm pulling double duty at work so I can get all of next week off, and I have not gotten a minute to myself to write in a few days. I am usually three-five chapters ahead of wherever I am posting. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. I have one chapter left that's ready, and I'd like to flesh out the chapter after before posting it, hence the possible mini-hiatus. Whether I do finish Chapter Nine or not, I will post Chapter Eight with hiatus news. 
> 
> I apologize in advance for leaving this chapter where I leave it. 
> 
> We're gonna be back with Raleigh for a bit.

“It would have been nice to know.”

Mako simply smiled at him. “You shared my memories, Raleigh. You are my co-pilot. Pay more attention.”

“The whole point is to avoid paying attention,” he defended, aware she was laughing at him. She could never hide her amusement from him. He knew her too well. “So, you and Chuck…”

“It’s not official, but yes. We are.”

“Well, that’s good,” he replied, easing into the couch beside her. “You were going to be this baby’s aunt anyway. This just makes it all come together better.”

“It does,” she agreed.

“One big, happy family.”

“You needn’t be worried, Raleigh,” she replied. “He cares for you. He will be happy. For all of us.”

“Stop reading me so well.”

“I can’t,” she replied, amused, drawing him close for a snuggle. “I know you too well.”

“Mako...you would tell me, if I were acting out of character, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” she replied, without hesitation. 

“Am I?”

“You are adjusting,” she clarified. 

He heaved a sigh, raking the hand of his free arm through his hair and scrubbing the back of his head. “It just...it feels like it’s _too_ easy. Like everything is just falling into place without any consequences, and I-”

“Raleigh.” She hugged the arm she held. “Stop inviting trouble.” 

“I’m just not used to things going so well.”

“Was it not enough that so many had to be lost for us to find ourselves where we are?” 

He looked to her. 

She settled a hand over his belly, steady and warm and comforting. “Think of it as a reparation. A life for all the lives they stole from you, from us, from everyone. What is one baby - impossible as it may seem - when compared to all the lives taken?” She leaned into his side. “You will not be alone again. You have rebuilt a family from ashes, Raleigh Becket. And from those ashes, we have risen to great heights.”

“Phoenixes do fall.”

“But they always rise again.”

*

“Are you _nervous_?” Raleigh asked with amusement.

Chuck shifted in his stance, folding both arms across his chest. He wasn’t quite embarrassed, but he was clearly out of his element. “Shove it, Becket. This is my first time!” 

He smiled at him and held out his arm, palm up. The Australian hesitated for the briefest of moments - probably didn’t want to come across as needy or insecure, the idiot - before taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. Raleigh squeezed back. 

“Well!” cried Newt, excitedly clapping both hands together. “Are we all ready to find out what it is?”

“How do you even know how to do this?” Chuck didn’t look like he was all that comfortable with letting Newt close to Raleigh with a probe in hand. Whether it was because of the probe, or his assumptions about Newt’s competence, was difficult to make out over the protective whirl that bled through their drift. Of one thing, Raleigh was absolutely certain, _no one_ would be able to get anywhere near him when Chuck was around, if the younger Ranger didn’t want them to. It was comforting in it’s own way - though Raleigh was well aware it should be freaking him out at least a little. The reasoning behind it may be subconscious, but he enjoyed how easily Chuck was spurred into his protective instincts. He’d noticed Chuck’s deeper qualities fairly early into their acquaintanceship. 

Chuck liked to project a strong, arrogant front, but at heart he was very sensitive. Both on a personal level and toward others. He liked to hide it, but he was exceptionally kind and considerate. He never forgot a single scrap of information about a person that he gathered, and always acted upon it at the appropriate time, much to the continual surprise of most around him. He was giving and virtually completely selfless. His bluster was a mask to hide his unending disappointment over being unable to save people, to help everyone, to be the impossible for the world. An unfailing hero who could swoop in and make everything better. The well of it ran deep, probably deeper than even Chuck himself was aware. It chipped and ate away at him, making him more and more upset with himself and the universal balance - which half the time he thought was a crock and the other he secretly believed in with everything he was. 

He loved easily. That one had been a surprise. Chuck, much like Raleigh himself, once he’d made up his mind to do something, instantly poured one thousand percent of himself into accomplishing his goal. Though, Raleigh freely admitted, Chuck was often more stubborn and mulish, if not out and out more dedicated than Raleigh managed to muster. He always felt like he had something to prove and nothing he managed to do was enough for him. He pushed himself, holding himself to impossibly high standards he somehow managed to achieve but never to his satisfaction. 

Chuck had made up his mind about Raleigh and the baby. Whether he’d sat and reflected on a long list of attributes and reasons or simply just made a flash decision, it was very clear to the blond - both in his actions and through the drift they shared - that Charles Hansen, son of Hercules and Angela had claimed them. They were his. His to protect, his to defend, his to keep the horrors at bay from...and his to love. 

Raleigh still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Chuck Hansen _loved_ him. Granted, he couldn’t see how _anyone_ could love him. Not after everything. But, whatever it was, Chuck wasn’t the only one who had responded to it. As Mako had so kindly pointed out to him, he had forged a new family in blood, sweat, tears and hope. And they, every one of them, cared for him. Not a one of them had so much as hesitated to extend that affection, attention and dedication to his child. And the baby wasn’t even it’s own person yet. 

He turned on the examination table to look for Mako. She smiled at him from his other side, hand already moving to meet his. She always knew when he needed her. The way he always knew when she needed him. It was something none of them questioned. Not even Chuck. It was something they all understood implicitly. Something they all shared. And that was perhaps the greatest blessing of all. 

“Do you even know how many PhDs I _have_?!” Newt shot back, shaking a bottle of gel to collect it at the application tip. 

“What difference does _that_ make?!” Chuck snapped.

“I know what I’m doing, alright?” He smoothed his hand over Raleigh’s middle to be sure it was clear, before squeezing the cold - and why the hell was it always so damn cold? - liquid over his skin.

Chuck loomed when Raleigh hissed at the temperature of it, middle sucking in slightly in reflex. 

Newt set the probe to it, gazing fixedly at the screen to avoid eye contact with Chuck for his own safety.

The more he thought about it, the more grateful he was that when love had come for him, it had come in the form of a prickly Ranger. Chuck may be a fixer upper, but Raleigh wasn’t perfect either. And if anyone was going to be able to make sense of his life and understand his needs and sacrifices, it was someone who lived every day with similar burdens. Not to mention, Chuck would call him on his shit and they could have it out. They’d not had a fight since the one following their encounter with techs in the hangar, and it had not come to blows, but Raleigh knew that if their relationship did last beyond the baby’s birth - if Chuck was right and he wasn’t just caught up in the energy field of the temporary mating bond the Anteverse had stuck Raleigh with for the rest of his life - life with Chuck would never be quiet or dull. 

He smiled to himself, rocking the hand Mako gave a playful squeeze to. 

He could feel Chuck’s attention shift from his frustration with Newt to interest - and slight concern - over Raleigh’s distancing introspection. The younger Ranger turned to look at him, brows just the slightest bit angled. Raleigh squeezed his hand. Chuck squeezed back. 

Newt hummed and hawed and clicked and tapped at the interface, taking measurements and making notes. Behind him Hermann nodded and every so often his head would bob slightly. He was taking notes as well, pencil gliding quickly over paper. 

Raleigh did his best to ignore the quiet building anticipation. On either side of him his co-pilots - one in soul, the other in life - were doing their best to rein in their own feelings. Mako was a steady, patient, resolute presence. Chuck was a whirl of buzzing impatience and growing agitation. 

It was Herc who finally snapped. “Well?”

Newt jumped, turning to eye them as if he’d completely forgotten they existed. Which was fairly typical when he got into research mode. “Oh, um…” He set the probe back down, swirling it back to one spot and pointing at the screen. “It’s-”

Claxon blared, sirens whirling and they all jumped to attention. 

“Tendo,” Herc barked into a communicator. “What the _hell_ is going on?”

“Tremors, sir,” came the LOCCENT master’s voice, steady and clipped. Every now and again they could hear the clack of keys over the noise about them. “From the Trench.”

Herc cursed and took off. 

Mako, Chuck, and Raleigh were not far behind him.

*

“Are you out of your _fucking_ mind?!” Chuck yelled.

Raleigh ignored him, pulling on the circuitry relay. 

Chuck was a wall of pure rage, radiating displeasure in every direction with such efficiency that Raleigh’s drivesuit team dithered anxiously at the edges of their stations. He grabbed Raleigh’s wrist to immobilize him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he ground out. 

“My _job_!” he returned, equally snappish. 

“The _hell_ you are!” 

They were both aware that regardless of what happened, the entire Shatterdome would know about their encounter - and probably more than they wanted leaked - by the time it was over. Raleigh would be honestly surprised if word hadn’t already reached the hangar floor that they were having a lover’s spat in the drivesuit room. 

“We don’t have _time_ for this!” 

“We have all the fucking time in the world! You are _not_ getting in that conn-pod!”

Raleigh glared at him. He made a point to yank his arm back extra fiercely, forcing Chuck to release him or risk his knuckles rebounding over their baby. Chuck’s hand curled into a fist that shook at his side as they stared one another down. 

Amazingly, he tried a gentler approach instead of plowing ahead with the demands. “Raleigh, you know what will happen if you engage out there.” His voice was pitched low, but the drivesuit room was a perfect sphere, everyone could hear him, even if they were desperately trying not to, or pretending to. 

“ _We’ll_ be fine.”

Chuck’s teeth clamped together, jaw twitching. “Don’t you care-”

“Don’t!” he shouted back at him, pointing an aggressive finger at him. 

Chuck backtracked. “Raleigh, please don’t do this.”

“I _have_ to.”

Chuck dragged him into his arms, holding him close as if he could lock him in his embrace and keep him safe there forever. “ _Please_.”

He reached up to touch his face, caressing his cheek tenderly. “I’m sorry, Chuck. But, there’s no other way.”

*

They braced themselves as Tacit was dropped into the bay, stalking out further to reach their post. 

Mako hadn’t said anything yet. She’d been present for the argument but hadn’t interrupted them. She’d seen the whole thing again from Raleigh’s perspective in the drift; it was so fresh, it relayed twice. He knew she was also unhappy about his being in the conn-pod again. Her worry for his and the baby’s health was very nearly distracting. As was the kiss Chuck had given him after he’d suited up. Passionate, desperate, and demanding. It was an order to be safe, to come back, and to prioritize their baby if it came down to it. Raleigh didn’t think he could do that, as much as he loved their child. As long as he could move, he would fight. Chuck knew that. Perhaps, that was what worried him most. 

He tried to shake it off. But Chuck was a strong presence through the drift they shared - courtesy of the Anteverse. Mako was similarly coping, as their neural bridge tried to compensate for a third mind when it had been designed for two. Chuck was not physically in the conn-pod, but his connection to Raleigh scrambled their handshake. It was lucky Chuck and Mako had known one another so long. She adjusted better than Raleigh would have expected, and before they knew it, there were three of them present in the drift. Idly, Raleigh wondered what it felt like for Chuck, stuck back at LOCCENT. He didn’t have time though. 

They paused, looking around.

“Anything?” he asked over the comms. 

“No cracks yet,” came Tendo’s calm reply. “But we’re getting a strengthening in activity.”

“Mako, Raleigh, keep an eye out, but do not, I repeat, do not, move any closer,” Herc ordered. 

“Sir,” they replied. 

“What’s it look like out there?” Tendo queried, the sounds of his fingers frantically meeting keys a reassuring presence in the conn-pod. 

“Still…” Raleigh replied. “Calm. Almost-Mako!”

“I see it!”

“LOCCENT, we have visual.”

“Is it a Kaiju?” 

“Negative.”

“What is it?” Herc interrupted. 

It was a moment before they replied. Their minds tangling over one another’s and Chuck’s as they tried to process what they were seeing. When they answered, they spoke as one, voices nearly lost to the sudden realization of what was rapidly barreling down upon them. 

“Tsunami.”


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Official Holiday Hiatus starting now. I promised chapter eight with hiatus news and here it is. I'm hoping to get another chapter at the very least out to you all before New Year's. But, I will be heading to another state for New Year's and won't have very much time to access any devices brought along. So, unfortunately, at this point in time, I can make no promises. But, I _can_ assure you, I will be trying my best to get the next chapter to you as soon as possible. In the mean time...
> 
> Happy Holidays, everyone!

“GET OUT OF THERE!!” Chuck snapped over the comms. 

In the background, they could hear the call go out into the Shatterdome. Alarms blared along the coast. But it had happened too quickly. Too long they’d been attuned to another world, neglecting their own. They’d forgotten, Kaiju weren’t the only killers in the deep. 

“No time!” Tendo replied for them. He sounded almost shaken. 

“TACIT! BRACE FOR IMPACT!” Herc ordered. 

Instead of doing as ordered Tacit lurched forward, responding to the thought they’d both had at once without acknowledgement or communication. 

“TACIT!” shouted Chuck. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“TACIT, THAT WAS A **DIRECT ORDER**!! MAKO! RALEIGH! GET DOWN **NOW**!!”

They couldn’t explain it. Didn’t have time. Hell, they could barely explain it to one another. It was just there. Something they both _knew_. Inexplicable, but undeniable. A gut instinct. And they followed it. 

It was easy to run toward the wall of water with the seabed exposed. They made it out farther and faster than they’d expected. LOCCENT was screaming orders at them. Alarms in Tacit were going off, flipped by LOCCENT in an attempt to get their attention, to receive a response, to reconnect with them. They ignored them. 

Swerving quickly, they raced down the waterline, parallel to the shore. As the wave crested they locked Tacit into stance and fired into the wall of water. The experimental plasma beam cut through the water with an angry hiss. Their whole Jaeger shook with the force, their arms in screaming agony as they supported it’s movement across their target line. 

The imbalance rolled what was left of the wave over and they braced for impact. It crashed into them with enough force to knock the air out of their lungs and for a dangerous moment, their vitals screeched electronically. But Tacit was a sturdy Jaeger, and they held fast. Grinding their feet into the relays, digging into the silt beneath Tacit with nothing to lock on to.

Wave upon wave pounded into them until they were forced to extend their arms to break them further. Their extended blades helped cut down the force, but they were still taking a beating. It was odd, the thought that they may die in a Jaeger, taken out by their own planet, instead of a Kaiju. But, it was a panicked thought they shared with some humor, easily brushed aside by the surprise of the plasma housing exploding. 

They both screamed as pain burst through their relays, burning through their bodies. They’d known it was a long shot, and they’d taken it anyway. There hadn’t been a choice. If they’d stayed where they were, they’d have gone down and Hong Kong would have been wiped out. Their actions, while reckless, had saved lives, they knew. And that would be enough. 

A second explosion blew through them, taking out a large chunk of their shoulder joint, dangerously close to the conn-pod. It knocked them off balance in time to be hit by another wave. Tacit rocked dangerously, and Raleigh and Mako fought desperately to keep their footing. With a piercing groan, a tear ripped open across their reactor unit. Water spilled in and they looked to one another, knowing what came next. 

It was a comfort, knowing that whatever happened, they’d be together. Raleigh spared a moment to appeal to Chuck but couldn’t seem to find him in the mess of his and Mako’s immediate responses. Which was probably for the best. It would hurt too much, he knew. 

They rode it out, holding their breath. As Tacit creaked and shook, they held on, quietly counting. She rocked back, pitching all the way over. Their limbs flailed as the conn-pod leveled with the ground, throwing them both sideways. As they remained locked in, they were spared actual tumbling. It didn’t stop it from hurting however. 

And then, instead of the jarring quake of landing, they were being leveled forward. They held still as Tacit found her feet without them. Pushed into the ground below as they made contact and braced their remaining hand over the hull breach to prevent further flooding, even as they tipped forward slightly to drain as much as they could. 

“I fucking swear you’re going to be the goddamn death of me, you stubborn asshole,” growled a voice they both knew very well. It echoed in their conn-pod, more relieved than angry. 

“Chuck?” Raleigh gasped.

“I told you,” his lover replied. “I’ll never let you fall again. I meant it.” 

As soon as they were steady, the hulking form of Horizon Brave lumbered around them and took up a protective stance in front of them. Waves broke in it’s mere vicinity. “Now shut up and lean on us if you have to. We’re all family here. No need to be shy.”

Mako huffed a laugh as Raleigh choked one out over the teasing tone. 

“Better get some rest,” Herc added. “You’re going to need it to bring her back through all the debris.”

“It worked,” Mako breathed, looking to him with a mixture of wonder, surprise and complete joy. 

He nodded. 

“Of course it worked,” Chuck replied. “You designed it.” 

“Arigato, otōto,” Mako murmured. 

“Dōitashimashite, nee-san,” Chuck replied, just as softly. 

Herc gave them the moment, before he said, “When we get back, you’re going to explain yourselves. And Raleigh, you’re grounded.”

He sucked in a breath and let it out in a tired, resigned exhale. “Can we do most of the debrief while we wait? I have a feeling medical is not going to let me sit through an official one as soon as we’re docked.”

“Tendo?” 

“Recording, sir.”

“All right. Let’s start.”

*

He’d feel less irritated, he knew, if Chuck didn’t look so damn smug. It wasn’t as if he didn’t understand the reasoning behind the decision. He was too far along to be piloting in the first place. His drivesuit had left indents in his skin, but it had also been what had saved their baby. Tucked in so tightly, the baby had barely moved from where it’d been settled. It was the first thing his frantic medical team had checked. They’d run vitals and tests and subjected him to so much borderline invasive treatment he’d snapped and threatened despicable, ungodly acts upon their persons if they didn’t leave him alone.

They’d ignored him. 

What made it all worse of course, besides being officially grounded, was the fact that he was on enforced, _guarded_ bed rest until further notice. They knew better than to trust him to stay where they left him, which meant he couldn’t get a moment’s peace to himself. Not even in the bathroom. 

And of course, the crowning glory on the whole debacle: People knew. 

Oh, they didn’t know he was pregnant. That much had managed to stay classified somehow. But they knew he was ‘sick’. Moreover, they knew from the frantic argument and harried medical team that had all but run him down when they’d docked, that it was a serious condition that would not be alleviated any time soon. Which meant the gossip was in full swing, though, thankfully, no one would ever consider pregnancy as the reason. For which he was eminently grateful. 

Still, it left him in an undesirable situation. On the one hand, he was grounded. There would be no more drifting or defending or going anywhere remotely near a conn-pod in his immediate future. He was still banned from the Kwoon. Moreover, as he was unable to physically take on his Rangers, they were handed over into the care of Commander Charles Hansen. Chuck took great pleasure in running them into the ground and relating it all to Raleigh afterward. Who later heard it all again from said Rangers in frantic appeals to his - now fully perceived as - kinder, gentler nature. Hindsight was always a bitch, and it amused Raleigh to no end to hear the complaints that once surrounded him, applied - greatly magnified - to his lover. 

He had no doubt that Chuck would whip them into shape. If people knew nothing else about him, it was that Chuck Hansen was the ideal Ranger. He was a legend within the corps, and the delight of the green to find themselves suddenly in his presence evaporated quickly under his scrutiny. The standards to which Chuck held Rangers were frankly impossible to achieve. Which, in turn, made the Rangers work harder to try and prove the statistics wrong. Chuck would have them properly paired up and set on initial drifting sims far sooner than Raleigh ever would have. Chuck lived life on eleven, and he had no time to slow down for anyone who couldn’t keep up. Except, Raleigh found, for himself. 

Smug as he was about Raleigh’s grounding, Chuck was quite responsive to his needs. Raleigh couldn’t tell if it was so because he felt some sort of guilt - though he _highly_ doubted it - and was trying to atone. If it was a direct result of the Anteverse’s influence, and he couldn’t help himself. Or if it was simply his choice in the matter. At any rate, Raleigh couldn’t say that he had _any_ complaints about Chuck’s care regiment. As busy as his lover was, he always found the time to check in on him. Raleigh could feel his attention shift to him multiple times a day, inquiringly. Sometimes, those moments would have him arriving sooner than expected, others later, and occasionally - though rarely - not at all. He seemed to have a real knack for perfect timing, which Raleigh was growing more and more appreciative of. It certainly helped keep his urges in check, and thus, comfortably manageable. 

It didn’t, however, make up for the fact that he was still grounded. The turn of the coin on that being, he was bored out of his mind. 

Raleigh wasn’t upset over his new-found limitations. He understood and respected them. They made sense to him. They also made his life a living hell. No Jaegers. No drift. No Kwoon. No training. No combat of any kind. No heavy lifting or excessive manual labor. He was a glorified Ranger doll in a glass case for display. And even that, he was barred from. 

Interviews were now given solely over communications devices. Any pictures or filming of him was required to be from the chest up. Reporters were restricted access from the Shatterdome, and the surrounding area for a circumference of six miles. The people of Hong Kong didn’t mind, as they’d never been fond of the rabble-rousers to begin with, and were in fact a great help in keeping them away from the PPDC and all levels of their work. Somehow, they’d made a cushy nest for themselves. Raleigh was certain he didn’t want to know. 

It meant, however, that they had to turn down several location based interviews. Invitations to shows and schools, and virtually all gatherings. His baby bump had grown - out of spite for the tsunami incident, he was nearly positive - and was clearly noticeable now. (Their baby was such a Hansen, Raleigh spent days sighing in resignation.) He was out of clothes to hide it and had taken to wearing Chuck’s bomber - to the younger Hansen’s endless satisfaction - to help keep people from inquiring about the unnatural pull below his sweater. It didn’t stop their eyes from drifting. What kept them from lingering was Chuck’s towering glower. Raleigh had gotten used to quick glances out of the sides of eyes, followed by a hasty retreat. It didn’t quite irritate him - Chuck was sparing him from having to lie - but it was disheartening all the same. He’d gotten used to being looked at as someone with value again, and it bruised his sensitive ego to not be acknowledged at all. 

Amazingly, it didn’t make him short with anyone. Most especially Chuck, who was with him so often, they may as well have been co-pilots. He found he could not be angry with Chuck for any reason. Even when he tried. He’d asked Newt about it - to the sounds of Chuck scoffing in the background and comments regarding questioning a need to be angry with him at all. The youngest K-scientist in residence had blinked at him questioningly, before seemingly having an ‘Aha!’ moment. 

“So, there’s absolutely _nothing_ Chuck could do that would make you angry with him?”

Raleigh shrugged. “I’ve tried thinking back on our relationship before-” Chuck snorted. “And even that...it’s hazy. Like...like it doesn’t matter. Like it happened to someone else.”

“And Chuck...he’s been…” Newt made a vague gesture Raleigh couldn’t interpret. 

Chuck, apparently, could, and did. “I take care of him!” he argued. “There’s nothing that he wants that he doesn’t get!”

Newt looked to Raleigh. He thought about it, and strangely - and not disturbingly, as it ought likely to have been - discovered Chuck was absolutely right. He not only kept abreast of Raleigh’s wants and needs, he was _ahead_ of them. Anticipating them, before they were voiced; even ahead of Raleigh’s own perception of them. It must have showed on his face because Newt made an interested sound. 

Chuck’s sigh joined Raleigh’s. 

“Is it true?” he asked.

Raleigh nodded. “Yeah.” Looking at Chuck with some suspicion he added, “Even before _I_ know what I want.”

The gleeful noise Newt made had heralded a new round of tests. 

Their drifting was evolving.

*

“Am I...even...going to...h-have to...Oh!”

“Doubt it,” Chuck puffed, tugging his hips close and rocking up. 

“....all...new levels...of...fff--”

Chuck grunted his agreement, preoccupied with plying Raleigh’s prostate. 

Raleigh’s hands closed about Chuck’s elbows tightly, gripping him as a means to center himself. It didn’t actually help. The more sex they had, the more often they shared memories. It was the strangest experience either had yet had, made worse by the fact that - unlike drift training - they couldn’t control it. Images, sense memory, sounds, colors...it all swirled around and about them, dragging them forward into deeper levels of intimacy. 

They both cried out, releasing together. Collapsing into one another, brows touching, they breathed in one another’s air. Chuck’s hands smoothed over Raleigh’s back, Raleigh’s own busy in soft hair. They idly traced one another’s secrets, the scars that held their strongest memories, the dents and dings that harbored knowledge of trials long past. 

“I love you,” Raleigh found himself saying. Surprisingly, there was no other feeling accompanying it. No doubt, no fear, no concern or apprehension, just love. Plain and simple in all its vastness. 

Chuck kissed him, hands closing about his face in reverence. “I love you too.”

Being grounded was good for _some_ things, Raleigh supposed.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! 
> 
> Sorry I wasn't able to get another chapter up for you guys in time. I managed to get six chapters ahead in the post-Christmas crazy, but then I realized there was a high possibility of getting snowed in and not making it back home come New Year's. I felt it was in everyone's best interests that we just post pone a few more days and start regular posting again on the first of the year, rather than a sudden, unexpected gap for who knew how long. Luckily, I didn't get stranded in another state, and we can go back to our regularly scheduled updates. 
> 
> There may be a small hiatus this month due to my participation in the Pacific Rim Reverse Big Bang. I will try to give adequate warning, but whether I actually end up needing to hiatus or not is still up in the air.

In retrospect, admitting it was the damning thing. 

Raleigh figured Chuck always knew, the way _he’d_ always known. And simply accepted it, without a need to question it or ask for clarification. Once it had been said, however, Chuck’s attention shifted incrementally. At first, not even Raleigh noticed. Too caught up in the feel of it all. The wonder and awe at the magnitude of what was now his reality. Chuck Hansen loved him. Chuck Hansen was his. And Chuck was faithful to him in ways Raleigh had never dared dream. 

It was Herc who pointed it out. 

“If you don’t want people looking too closely, you should stop touching Raleigh’s bump so much, Chuck.”

Chuck glared at him, fingers going for a longer sweep across Raleigh’s middle. “I don’t touch him too much,” he objected. Raleigh knew Chuck felt as if he didn’t touch him nearly _enough_. He didn’t necessarily agree with him. He didn’t disagree with him either. Chuck’s touch was...ambrosia. He couldn’t get _enough_. Even when he was balls deep in him, limbs coiled about him like a disgruntled octopus, an hour into making Raleigh feel the best he could ever feel. There was something about Chuck that just left Raleigh wanting _more_ endlessly. Chuck didn’t seem to mind, indulging his every tactile whim. Perhaps they _did_ get a little lost in each other every now and again. 

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s adorable.” He laughed, not even bothering to duck the handful of fries Chuck threw at him. “It’s just in everyone’s best interest if you didn’t feed the rumor mill.”

“I don’t see why we need to keep hiding it,” Chuck replied, fingers stroking low. Raleigh shifted in his seat as lust swelled out of nowhere. With a soft huff of amusement, Chuck pressed his lips to Raleigh’s hairline and nuzzled him. He didn’t stop stroking though. 

Herc raised a brow, otherwise ignoring their sudden leap into grand scale PDA. “You want to divulge your condition?” He looked at both of them when he said it. Raleigh had long ago accepted the fact that they’d become a plural pronoun. 

“Raleigh’s not too keen on it,” Chuck supplied, hand pausing to cup the curve of Raleigh’s bump. 

He absorbed the offered comfort, doing his best to avoid the Marshall’s eyes. Hercules Hansen was a consummate professional, however. He could wait the younger man out with time to spare and _still_ get a multitude of things done. 

Chuck’s other hand smoothed gently down his spine, relaxing Raleigh almost against his will. 

“You know we’d never let anything happen to you. Or the baby,” Herc said, voice soft and gentle, but completely resolute. 

Blue eyes shot up to meet his, and it took Raleigh a full minute - in which neither Hansen, or perhaps no Hansen, as the baby was likewise quiet and still, moved - to understand what had occurred. Herc knew. Of course he knew. He and Chuck had drifted. 

Raleigh flushed immediately and both Hansens laughed. 

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Raleigh,” Herc soothed. “You know what it’s like. Relax.”

“Besides,” Chuck added, arms wrapping about him and drawing him close in an embrace that never failed to capture a willing Raleigh for hours on end. He kissed him against the juncture of his neck and shoulder. “It’s nice to be able to torture him back.”

Herc smiled. Raleigh could tell it wasn’t torture at all to the elder man. He supposed it couldn’t be. Knowing his son was in love, was loved deeply in return, was starting a family of his own...it had to be everything a parent dreamed. Most importantly, Chuck was _alive_ to enjoy it all. 

Raleigh’s arms went about the arms about him. “Are you this sappy in your head?” he teased, shifting ticklishly when Chuck nipped him in retaliation. 

“You’re in my head all the time now, you tell me.”

“We’re disgustingly happy,” he pointed out. “Everyone must be sick to death of us.”

“They can envy themselves clear away,” Chuck replied. A warm bloom of contentment met Raleigh’s own and he let it lull him. Easing back into Chuck’s body. Sometimes, he just needed to allow himself moments of weakness. Let someone else bear the load. Chuck never failed him, always willing to take more than his fair share, always capable of carrying more. Always willing to. 

His head dropped back against the younger Australian’s shoulder. 

Across from them, Herc was still smiling. Though it had blurred slightly. Raleigh wasn’t entirely able to navigate it. But, he thought that maybe Herc was happy. At least, the part of Chuck that was Herc that ghosted by whenever they were in close proximity and sharing a moment, didn’t have any issue with the direction their lives had taken. If anything, Raleigh could _almost_ feel an abstract sort of fondness radiating through. 

He blinked and shuffled deeper into Chuck’s embrace. Their drift was odd enough. He didn’t need to complicate it with trying to read his lover’s co-pilot through it. It wouldn’t do him much good to focus on it anyway. Once too many minds got involved, Raleigh got a migraine. 

“Group feelings aside, is it something you’d consider?”

And they were back to discussing it. The pit of anxiety in his stomach that always lurched to life whenever they talked about telling others about the baby took longer than usual to make itself known. Chuck had been getting better at smoothing over Raleigh’s more negative feelings. Sometimes, Raleigh thought it was because all that negativity was bad for the baby and Chuck was protecting them both. Other times, he almost understood Chuck’s need to comfort and support him. Before Raleigh and the baby, Chuck had lived a self-contained life. Any bonds not directly required to function - such as his relationship with his father - were outright rejected. And the ones he endured, he did his best to fray as much as he could. Raleigh was no doctor, but as a Jaeger pilot, he understood. As someone who’d lost everyone he’d loved to Kaiju early in life, the idea of being as unattached as possible was a welcome distraction to the pain of living with connections that would only hurt him in the end. Scar him in deep, unrecognizable, irreparable ways that would only plague and haunt him for the rest of his miserable existence. 

“Hey,” Chuck husked, tilting his head with a gentle grip of fingers to his chin. “Cut that out.” He leaned in and kissed him, pouring love, affection and devotion into the cold, empty space Raleigh had allowed to open within him. Raleigh kissed back, greedily absorbing every last bit Chuck was willing to share. 

When they pulled away, Raleigh was in Chuck’s lap and they were both breathing heavy. Chuck bumped their foreheads together. “I love you,” he murmured. “You know that.”

Raleigh closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hands flexing against the sides of the Australian’s face. “I know,” he replied softly. 

Chuck’s hands smoothed over his rear and steadied over his hips. “And you love me.” He nuzzled him. “I can _feel_ it in every beat of your heart.” His head tilted, bringing their mouths back into alignment. “Every breath you take.”

“You should,” Raleigh replied. “I’m not exactly capable of being subtle, when every part of me is consumed by you.” His mouth opened, and Chuck’s was lured into mirroring the motion. “All day long, it’s one neverending litany of Chuck. Chuck. Chuck.” 

The kiss they shared was in no way demure, every ounce of passion bubbling up between them, expressed in the joining of their mouths. 

“For Christ’s sake,” Herc groaned, chair scraping against the concrete floor with a wrenching sound. “Could you save this bit for when there’s half a Shatterdome between us?”

“See you later then, old man,” Chuck replied, voice gruff and eyes burning desire straight through to Raleigh’s soul. 

“You’re in _my_ office, hellion!”

The winding of Raleigh’s limbs about Chuck as he stood abruptly, lifting him and settling him on the edge of the table was automatic. He knew a part of his still rational sense of self would be consumed by embarrassment over the entire affair later, but for the moment, all he could manage to concern himself with was Chuck’s proximity, and how much clothing was between the promise of bare skin.

“Might want to take a break, Dad,” he replied, voice slightly muffled from where his mouth was busy against Raleigh’s throat. “Baby needs me.”

Raleigh gasped, hands clutching Chuck’s arms, and legs spreading to accommodate him as he sucked a tender spot. 

“You know how it is. Raleigh’s got a dick, but he’s still easier to turn on than a lightswitch right now. And I _did_ start it.”

He’d hate him for it later, he was sure. Hell, he’d damn well try.

“You’re the one who taught me to finish what I start.”

Raleigh gasped, clutching him close. Chuck hadn’t even done much yet, but he knew all the places that drove him wild, and he was using them to his advantage. 

“You have fifteen minutes,” Herc groused. “Try not to stain anything.” 

As the door shut, embarrassment edged along the need in Raleigh’s gut. “I can’t...fucking...believe you!” he puffed. 

“Do you want me to stop?” His mouth upturned at the glare Raleigh threw his way. His hands smoothed down Raleigh’s thighs, catching over his knees. “Come on, Raleigh...Enjoy it.” He leaned in to breathe against his ear, “Never fantasized about doing it in the Marshall’s office?”

Raleigh moaned. 

Chuck slapped a hand down on the desk. “Right here on the desk.”

“I am going to hate you in the morning,” he replied, already yanking Chuck’s pants open. 

“No you won’t,” the smug bastard replied. “You are going to _love_ every minute of it. Now take off my jacket and put it behind your back. Baby needs to be comfortable.”

*

It took him two whole days to even be able to look in Herc’s general direction. Every time he struggled with it, amusement would thrum between himself and Chuck. He didn’t enjoy being used to antagonize the Marshall, but he had to admit that Herc had been decidedly understanding of the entire thing. In fact, he’d gone above and beyond his duty as a father, a grandfather, and the Marshall of the PPDC. It was just one of those things co-pilots did for one another. Raleigh - unlike Chuck - was unused to thinking about Herc as what he was at his core. A Jaeger pilot.

If he let himself think about it, it was easier to understand how Chuck had not been bothered by it. Why it had gone over so easily between father and son. Copilots shared everything. Every experience, every memory, every feeling, every space. Learning to curb feelings like embarrassment and anxiety were one of the cores of the Ranger code. A cadet could never make it out of basic training and into simulators if they couldn’t do something as basic as purge emotions that blocked a steady handshake. It was all or nothing, and those who’d been lucky enough to receive commissioned Jaegers all knew the reality of life as half of a whole. 

Once he’d managed to make sense of it, he realized he forgot often that Herc had one other designation that was paramount to all others. Co-pilot.

With that in mind, he found it much easier to navigate the linked relationship he had with the Marshall. The man was his lover’s father, his co-pilot, and the other half of him. He was Raleigh’s baby’s grandfather. And he was a man who would do whatever he deemed necessary to ensure the safety of millions. If that was so, then why had Raleigh ever doubted that Hercules Hansen would be any less likely to do similarly for his own family, as he had long maintained for total strangers? 

At peace with his newfound understanding of Herc, he went in search of him, to thank him as Rangers were wont. 

It took him all day, but he finally tracked him to medical. 

Carefully strolling in, he did his best to give the man the privacy he’d so clearly sought. But, the moment Herc sensed him, he turned and smiled, beckoning him over. Raleigh went without hesitation, pausing beside him at Stacker’s bedside. 

“I’m glad he’s taking such good care of you.”

Raleigh smiled. “He is.”

Herc nodded. “He was short on strong role models, so-”

“On the contrary,” Raleigh interrupted. “I think he had all the strong role models a person could ever hope to.”

“He told you? Or did you pick it up?”

“A little of both,” he replied honestly. “He told me, but...we...drift heavily when we’re sharing feelings. So, I’ve probably seen a lot more than he’d have bothered to tell me about.”

“Seen?” he queried, brows raised. 

Raleigh huffed a laugh, scrubbing at the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a recent development.” He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. “Medical knows. K-Science knows. The tests weren’t pleasant.”

Herc smiled again, fondly. 

“But, whatever this is between us…” He gestured vaguely. “Newt thinks it’s some sort of Precurser Matrix alterations based off my drift experiences. Hive mind understanding…” He shrugged. “It’s not exactly the worst way to fall in love with some one.”

“I don’t imagine it is.”

“There’s still plenty we don’t know about each other.” His hand smoothed over his bump. “The baby’s needs tend to monopolize us.” 

“Any developments?”

“None really.” He realized they still didn’t know what the baby was and resolved to correct that at their earliest opportunity. 

Herc held his arm out, hand hovering above Raleigh's bump. "Can I?"

He nodded.

Herc settled his hand over his grandchild with a sigh, fingers splaying slightly. "When Angela was pregnant with Chuck, it helped to keep things in perspective."

“Perspective?” Raleigh echoed. 

“Don’t focus on the really big problems, don’t nitpick the small ones. Focus on what you can do together, for each other. The most important thing right now is that you’re comfortable and happy. All three of you.” His hand rubbed gently. “Everything else can wait.”

Raleigh threaded his fingers together. “I’m just worried about the consequences of telling anyone. That they might-”

Herc nodded. “Understandable. But, Raleigh, most parents worry about that in general. Yes, the circumstances of the baby’s conception are decidedly unorthodox, but over a decade ago, we all thought monsters were the stuff of movies. We’ll figure something out. I promise you, it won’t be as bad as you think.” 

His eyes drifted to Stacker of their own accord. 

Herc noticed and turned to look at him as well. 

“He’d want to cover it up as long as possible.”

The Australian hummed in agreement. “He’d also know when to lay his hand out. Sometimes, you need to do the unexpected before anyone can even consider venturing into suspicion.”

“What would we say?”

“We’ll figure it out.” 

His hands went over the baby, covering Herc’s hand as he did. 

“I’m calling in everyone I can,” Herc assured him. “We’ll be ready.”

Raleigh swallowed.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

Herc surprised him by drawing him into his arms and dropping a kiss atop his head. “You’re my family now, Raleigh Becket. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Or the baby.” 

It had been so long since Raleigh had actually had a family, he often forgot how the little things were what built the strength of them. He wrapped his arms about Herc and leaned into him. 

“What’re we going to do with this family of ours?” he asked Stacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to my getting home late, it's only going to be (less than) five hours before the next chapter is posted. For some of you, it'll probably be two posts in one day. It's not a new scheduling, it's just a smaller increment of time separating the two chapters this time around. Chapter Eleven will bring us back into our regularly scheduled one a day.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back with Chuck.

No matter what position they fell asleep in, when they woke, Chuck’s arms were always full of Raleigh. It was one of the easier things to come to terms with. And one of the harder things to ever consider giving up. 

Those moments in the dark, Raleigh warm and relaxed against him, their baby pressed into his side, were the highlight of Chuck’s new routine. He’d long ago given up all pretenses - even to himself - that what they shared could ever be transitory. If he were being completely honest, even in the world they lived in, some traditions held fast. As cheesy as it sounded, he’d been spending an awful lot of time trying to gauge Raleigh’s reaction to the idea of them making a permanent go of it. 

While Raleigh seemed perfectly content with the idea, there was still a part of him that would resist until the baby was born and Chuck could prove all doubts unfounded. He knew he couldn’t rush his partner, but, once he’d set his mind to a goal, it was extremely difficult for him to be detoured. He had decided that no matter how many times he had to ask, Raleigh Becket was going to eventually say yes to the marriage proposal that had been consuming his every thought for weeks on end now. The only problem, of course, was deciding on how exactly to go about it. 

He’d never even asked someone out on a date. How was he ever going to be able to ask a question as important as dedicating the rest of their lives to one another? 

One step at a time, he reminded himself. Raleigh had only just recently agreed to allow the PPDC to reveal his condition. They were still working on a story, and Raleigh would be on edge until the entire thing blew over. It was not the time to approach him about anything else. What he needed most was support. He needed Chuck to be unwavering, and predictable, and there for him whenever he needed him. He needed consistency. As difficult as it was for Chuck to put it off, he knew he had to for Raleigh’s sake. As well as his own. 

While he was determined to hear a yes, he was aware that there may be a few nos initially. All the preparation in the world would not shield his heart from the initial gut reaction to the rejection, no matter what he felt to be true when the time came. He did not handle rejection well at all. The more time the PPDC could buy him, the better. And yet…

He pressed his nose into Raleigh’s hair, inhaling deeply. While Raleigh smelled the same as he always had, there was something different in his scent now that Chuck couldn’t quite place. He couldn’t be sure if it was the pregnancy, or the fact that when Raleigh wasn’t in his arms, he was in his bed - and he was always in his jacket. It could be as simple as their scents mixing, or Raleigh’s hormones affecting his body chemistry. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to bother Max. More to the point, it turned Chuck on. He’d never been so attracted to another person as he was to Raleigh. Everything about him - even the things that likely _should_ have driven him away - only burned need and desire deeper into Chuck’s soul. It wasn’t lust, because it wasn’t always a sexual feeling. There were times he wanted nothing more than to simply hold Raleigh for hours. Or to watch him frown over papers as he read the latest mission reports. Everything that was Raleigh drew Chuck in and held him captive, mind, body and soul. 

He was drowning happily in him. 

Raleigh stirred against him and made a disturbed sound. 

“Did I wake you?” Chuck apologized. 

Raleigh inhaled deeply, exhaling as he stretched. His body drooped limply against Chuck’s in complete trust and relaxation. “No…” he mumbled, face burrowing against Chuck’s chest. “Baby.”

“Is it moving again?”

Much to Chuck’s dismay, the baby had begun to stir about a week back, but only Raleigh could feel it. Even with his father’s recollections of his own womb experience, Chuck found the disappointment difficult to dissuade. He’d feel the baby soon enough. For the time being, he ought to be happy that _Raleigh_ was feeling the baby. It meant everything was going smoothly and they were both healthy. He ought to only concern himself with being happy that his child was developing properly, despite the circumstances of it’s conception. But, he found, the drift made it more difficult to do so. 

Every time Raleigh started in delight or surprise, it registered in Chuck, the feeling echoing through him, without the baby’s input. He could tell when Raleigh was feeling the baby, but not what it felt like to feel the baby. For the first time, the one thing he wanted out of the drift that had developed between them, was the only thing he was being denied. 

He couldn’t even be angry about it, as neither he nor Raleigh had any definitive control over it. Yes, they had learned how to manipulate it in small degrees to use to their advantage, but it was mostly in times of need, when he felt it was most responsive anyway. 

At Raleigh’s tired frown, he let go of his thoughts, not wanting to expose Raleigh to any more stress than he was already forced to handle. “Are you alright?” the blond asked, voice husky with sleep. He reached up to touch Chuck’s face. He turned into the touch, kissing his palm. 

“I’m fine, Raleigh. Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Upcoming sims.”

“Oh.” He didn’t sound like he believed him entirely, but because it wasn’t exactly a lie - he _was_ concerned about how they’d progress - and Raleigh had been jolted out of sleep by their baby, and was thus not entirely awake to begin with, he didn’t question it. 

Chuck smoothed his hand over Raleigh’s bump. “Go back to sleep, love.”

Raleigh made an indecipherable sound and dropped off almost immediately. 

Chuck kissed his temple and spent the rest of the morning laying in bed, stroking over the pair in his arms and contemplating the future.

*

Mako’s smile was irritating.

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“I am trying to decide that myself,” she replied. 

“It’s a yes or no question,” he snapped. 

“Not entirely. It does regard Raleigh, after all.” 

“Mako.”

She laughed softly. “Alright, I will help you.”

“Thank you.”

“But, we will do this my way.”

Chuck frowned, folding both arms across his chest. “He’s _my_ lover.”

“He’s _my_ co-pilot.”

“We share a constant drift. I should be able to do this on my own.”

“If you could, you wouldn’t be here asking me for my help.”

He had to give her that. 

“Are we agreed?”

“Fine!” he huffed in exasperation. 

“Very well then, I will help you.”

“Thank you.”

She smiled. “You’re very welcome, Chuck.”

*

“I realized something the other day,” Raleigh said, folding his pants and setting them over the back of Chuck’s chair.

“Let me guess. You’ve finally come around to the idea that it’s completely idiotic to have separate quarters when the entire ‘Dome knows we’re having the best sex God ever gave two sentient beings?” 

Raleigh sighed. “Chuck…”

“Completely aside from the fact - of course - that we’re wildly, crazily, stupidly in love, and you’re carrying our first child.”

“I-Wait. _First_?”

“You heard what Newt said,” Chuck replied with a shrug. “You have all the parts required for a full reproductive line of little uses.”

Raleigh frowned slightly. “You’re serious.”

“Of course I’m serious. Why would I joke about this?”

“You want more kids?”

“Don’t you?”

“Chuck, we haven’t even had the first one yet.”

“As someone raised an only child, I can tell you, it fucking sucks. Especially in this lifestyle. If you don’t believe me, ask Mako.”

“I don’t…”

“You don’t?” he replied, body undergoing every damn cliché in the book. Heart stopping, blood freezing, breath deserting him. 

Raleigh shook his head, a hand braced to his own chest. Chuck belatedly realized his reaction was affecting Raleigh, but he couldn’t seem to stop. As much as he wanted to, his entire body was in full revolt and there was absolutely _nothing_ he could do to turn the situation around. 

“I don’t…” Raleigh wheezed. “Want the baby to know that pain.”

Chuck felt his body start to come back online. 

“I lost my entire family, Chuck. When Jaz died...And it wasn’t anything like…” He bit his lip hard. 

“Say it.”

Raleigh shook his head, eyes closing against tears. 

“Say his name, Raleigh. It’s okay to say his name.”

He shook his head again, more desperately this time. 

“Yancy.”

Raleigh made a sound Chuck never wanted to hear ever again as long as he lived. “When Yancy died and left you all alone the way no one should ever be left alone.” 

Tears welled and rolled down his cheeks. Raleigh tried to scrub them away, but his hands were shaking. 

Chuck stepped up to him and took him into his arms. “Do you want to name the baby Yancy?” 

Raleigh shook his head. Chuck could feel the answer, as if he’d said it plain as day, even as Raleigh choked on a sob and collapsed into him. _I can’t. I can’t call anyone else Yancy._

“Shh…” he soothed, stroking down his back. “It’s alright, Raleigh. We don’t have to name the baby Yancy. Hell, it might even be a girl.” He could feel the question, less stable, but clearly there amidst Raleigh’s devastation. “Not sure if dad would be able to handle that. But, it wouldn’t bother me. I know, love...I know...Your family’s names are off limits. It’s okay, I understand…”

It took a while to calm Raleigh down, but once he had, he was more responsive. 

“I’m so worried I’m going to screw this one up,” he sniffed, cuddling closer. “Chuck, what if we do everything wrong?”

“I’ve got a good gauge for doing everything wrong,” he replied, stroking back Raleigh’s hair. “We’ll be fine.”

“Everyone I love dies.”

“Now, that’s just not true.” He kissed his brow. “I am way too stubborn to die. Hansens can’t be forced to do anything they don’t want to. You’re in for a fight on that one, love. The universe tried already; it fucking failed.” 

Raleigh kissed him against the throat. 

“And there’s no way you’d ever be able to pry yourself free of Mako. Believe me when I say, the rest of them are just that damn determined too. You can love ‘em or hate ‘em, but this group’s got more rounds on it that a Jaegerfly on a Kaiju free spree. Not going to lose any of us that easily, Raleigh. Frankly, I’m a little insulted that you’d think we’re so easy to ditch.” 

He wasn’t at all, and he could tell from the smile pressed into his skin that Raleigh was aware of it. 

“How fucked up is it that you’re the mature one?” 

“I am very mature, thank you very much.” He dropped a kiss atop his head. “Besides, it’s not like Baby is making it easy on you. You’re hormonal, you’re drifting non-stop, you’re bored off your ass...An ass, I enjoy entertaining as often as possible, by the way.”

His partner huffed a laugh. 

“Do you really want to stop at one?” Chuck asked. “I don’t want to force you into any decisions, Raleigh. It’s your body. I just think-” Raleigh cut him off with a sweet kiss. Chuck let it linger as long as Raleigh wanted. 

“No,” he replied softly, once they’d drawn apart. “I don’t want to deprive my kid of the kind of relationship I had with my siblings. I was lucky, I know that. I just…”

Chuck drew him closer, tightly. “We’ll protect our kids. Dad and the others will help.”

“I know, it’s just…”

“What?”

Raleigh squirmed slightly. 

“What?”

He sighed. “It implies...well...that we’ll be together long enough to have another.”

“And you don’t think we will?”

“I know how I feel about you,” Raleigh replied, kissing him to soothe the sting. “And I know how you feel about me. It’s just…”

“You still can’t be sure there’s nothing else influencing us.”

Raleigh nodded. 

Chuck pushed them up a little, so they were sitting rather than lounging. “Is it the drifitng that bothers you?”

The blond blinked at him in surprise. “No. I like the drift between us.” He set his hand to Chuck’s chest and drew it down slowly. “I like knowing so much about you, having such deep access to you.”

“Are you worried it’ll stop when the baby’s born?”

“A little.”

“So, marry me.”

Raleigh stared at him. 

Well...there went the plan. Chuck had never been good with plans anyway. Every time he was a part of one, things always went ass up in the first ten minutes. All the best things in his life had come to him randomly. He should have known it was the only way to go. 

“Marry me,” he repeated. 

He could feel Raleigh searching him out, trying to figure out what had happened. 

“We’re already drift compatible. Whether this sticks around or not, that won’t change.”

“We are?” Raleigh asked dumbly. 

Chuck rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Did you think I didn’t look into that after…” He carded a hand through blond locks. “When you needed a new co-pilot, I pressed. Stacker relented - for reasons we will not discuss - and looked into it. If you hadn’t bolted and disappeared into God knows where, they would have introduced us. I was on a plane when you rabbited. Ninety-eight point five compatibility.”

Raleigh blinked slowly. “Why didn’t they…?”

“Would you have honestly listened?”

“No,” he admitted. 

Chuck sighed. “You broke my heart once, Raleigh Becket. You don’t get to do it again.”

Raleigh sighed heavily and leaned back into Chuck’s arm. “I would have been an asshole to you.”

“I would have been an asshole right back.”

Raleigh smiled, but it faded. “It was too soon, after Yancy.”

Chuck shook his head. “Not if I’d have provoked you into fighting me.”

Their eyes met. 

Chuck smiled. “Stacker promised that if it happened that way - as everyone figured it would - and we broke even, he’d let us drift. Figured you’d be so surprised, you’d go with it.” He waggled a hand. “Fifty-fifty shot, Tendo said. But, I was willing to take the chance. When I got there though, you were already gone.”

“So they paired you with your dad.”

Chuck shrugged. “You know how it is.”

“The deeper the bond.”

He nodded. 

“If we’re going to do this…” Raleigh said, turning in his arms. “We have to have the next one right away, because I am not going through refit to be grounded again. We’re overhauling three years and seeing what we get. After that…” He shrugged. “We’ll see what the world’s like.”

It couldn’t be that easy. 

“Are you saying…?”

“Yes, Charles Hansen. I will marry you.” 

Chuck crushed Raleigh to him. 

Neither would rest much that night.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Chuck's turn to be surprised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed some additional tags. I don't always (read: generally never) know what the outcome of a fic of mine is going to be. They write themselves. And in the case of multi-chaptered ones, there may occasionally be unanticipated twists, which will require alteration of previous information given. 
> 
> This is one of those.

“What?” his father asked in disbelief. 

“As your two most senior Rangers, Captain Raleigh Becket, and Commander Charles Hansen, we are formally requesting the Marshall’s leave to marry,” Chuck replied. 

Herc looked to Tendo, whose bagel was dangling precariously from his mouth. The LOCCENT master’s eyes were wide as if he couldn’t believe he’d just heard what he had. 

“Say again?” 

Chuck heaved a sigh. Raleigh had had mixed feelings about the formal request, but Chuck had wanted to ensure that absolutely _nothing_ would get in the way of their best effort toward a happily ever after. Even before his father had been promoted to Marshall, Chuck had learned the ins and outs from watching Stacker closely. He knew the best way to go about it was to get formal permission, marry immediately, and file in both home countries. Pilots married all the time, but the only way to ensure never being split up when the pilots involved were not co-pilots was to have official permission. It was like a get out of separate tour duties free card to be waved in everyone’s face. In the history of the program, Stacker had only granted two non co-pilot teams leave to marry. Because of him, they’d both died together, along with their co-pilots, in a vicious Kaiju attack. 

Raleigh wasn’t exactly likely to abandon Mako to a new partner. Chuck doubted he ever would be. And he didn’t fault him for it. He hadn’t wanted to go to the Breach without his father. He’d been forced to, and had gotten lucky, but he would never force anyone into a similar situation. In truth, he wasn’t too keen on leaving his father either. Which meant, their only chance at formally staying together was the Marshall’s express consent. Something, he hadn’t doubted his father would award them. They had the Marshall’s grandchild, after all. 

“As your two most senior Rangers, Captain Raleigh Becket, and Commander Charles Hansen, we are formally requesting the Marshall’s leave to marry,” he repeated. 

“You two are serious about this.” 

“Yes, sir, we are,” Raleigh replied. 

“Well then, leave granted.”

“Took you long enough, old man!”

Herc brushed his son aside to embrace Raleigh in a fatherly hug. “‘Bout time you two settled things.”

“Tendo?” Raleigh asked, tentatively.

“I won…” the other man breathed, bagel falling to the floor forgotten.

“Won what?” Chuck asked. 

Tendo threw both arms up in the air like he’d just single handedly wiped all traces of Kaiju from the planet. “I WON!” he whooped. 

“There was a _pool_?!” Chuck and Raleigh asked as one. 

“And I **won**!” 

Tendo dropped into his chair, rolling it over to his command center and flicked the switch. Chuck and Raleigh made killing motions, as Herc crossed both arms over his chest and grinned. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your LOCCENT master with important news.” 

“I am going to _murder_ you in your sleep, Choi,” Chuck hissed. 

“Marshall Hercules Hansen has just granted formal permission for Captain Becket and Commander Hansen to marry.”

A loud sound rose from the hangar bay, a lot of clangs accompanying the random instruments being thrown at the speaker. 

“You all know where to find me. Please check in by day’s end.” He flipped the switch, turned his chair around and kicked up his feet. 

Chuck was vibrating with a range of emotions, hands curled into fists at his sides. Raleigh however, was all amusement and fondness. He smiled at Tendo. “Are you a very rich man?”

“Oh yes,” he replied. “It’s sweet to be me.”

“Insider’s tip?”

“You could say that.”

Raleigh paused. Chuck could feel him thinking it over. The process alone was somehow also calming him down in increments. He took a deep breath and held it, letting Raleigh’s mood influence him. 

“Mako would never, Newt’s in it to win, Hermann would lord mathematic superiority over you...Stacker’s in a coma…” Chuck’s smile met his father’s behind Raleigh’s back. At some point, all the exposure to the former Marshall swirling around in his head had affected Raleigh’s designation toward him. Everyone but Raleigh was aware of it. They were waiting for him to realize it. Chuck hoped Stacker woke up and was broadsided by it first, honestly. 

His fiancé cocked a hip and Chuck stepped up behind him to work out the kink developing in the muscles of his lower back. Raleigh sighed quietly and leaned into him for the contact. Chuck kissed him, amused when it distracted him from his train of thought. 

“I can’t think of anyone else who would know me well enough to accurately help you work that out.” 

Tendo’s smile softened. 

Chuck realized before Raleigh even caught on. 

“So spill. Who helped you?”

He braced himself against Raleigh supportively. 

“Yancy,” Tendo replied. 

To Chuck’s surprise, Raleigh only blinked. “How?” he asked. 

Chuck tried to keep the fact that Raleigh’s calm acceptance of Tendo’s introduction of his brother into the conversation going completely smoothly had thrown him. He must not have been doing a good job, however, because the blond’s hand stroked over his thigh supportively. 

He felt the subject be put aside for later conversation and with a carefully measured breath, let it go. 

“Conversation we had once. Long time ago.”

“When?” Raleigh asked, with a soft smile.

“The first time he met him.”

It was Chuck’s turn to be confused. “I never met Yancy Becket.”

“Sure you did,” Tendo replied. “You just weren’t aware of it at the time.”

Raleigh turned to look at him and he could feel Tendo and his father’s gazes follow. He’d met Yancy Becket and not realized it? When? 

He could feel Raleigh rooting around in the memories he was tossing helter skelter. After a moment or two, he released control to his fiancé, who knew far better than he what he was actually looking for. Raleigh flipped through the memories as they surfaced, discarding them in neat, orderly piles. He was quick and efficient, and it barely registered to Chuck that they were in full drift. Something all together new for them. 

And then suddenly, there it was. 

_He was fifteen. Far too young to be sneaking into a bar, but then he was in the Academy, and this was the place to be. Gipsy Danger had reported back to Alaska after a brief tour of the south, and he was itching to bump into one of the Beckets. They’d jockeyed with Dad and Uncle Scott in Manila, but he hadn’t been there to meet them. Maybe they’d take him back to the Shatterdome and let him see Gipsy up close._

_There was a crowd tonight. News of the Beckets return bringing people out of the proverbial woodwork. Jaegerflies circled, what he believed to be members of Gipsy’s J-crew had begun gathering by the far wall, and every cadet with balls enough had snuck out past light’s out. Of them all, Chuck was by far the youngest, but they were all Ranger cadets and equally likely to get booted from the program if they got caught. So they pretended not to know one another, and avoided each other like the plague._

_It had never been difficult for Chuck to sneak around places he had no right to be. Traveling the world with his father and uncle meant he’d gotten a Grade A lesson in how to maneuver the world’s underbelly. A small town bar in the middle of bumbfuck Alaska, with nothing but ice for miles was hardly a challenge. They were used to catering to shifting Jaeger crews, and weren’t about to ask a kid wandering about who he was looking for. If anything, they knew_ exactly _who he was, and weren’t about to face the Hansen brothers or the Marshall over getting in Chuck’s way._

_He could be a brat when he needed to be. The reminder though, had him looking around. It was the type of place Uncle Scott would settle right into. His father usually not far behind. They weren’t in the country just then, but Chuck wouldn’t put it past them to pop up somehow anyway. His father had an eerie habit of ruining Chuck’s plans without ever knowing he’d been skulking about._

_He let out a sharp breath as he collided with someone behind him, managing to get doused in the drinks they were carrying. The man bit out a non descript expletive, raising both arms. “You okay, kid?”_

_“Yeah, yeah. Watch where you’re going.”_

_“Eyes on the prize, huh?” the other asked in amusement. “Are they here yet?”_

_“No.”_

_“Pity. Nice to look at, those Becket boys. Great asses.”_

_Annoyed, Chuck pushed past him, trying to make his way through the sudden sea of people. It took him a moment - frustrated as he was about being knocked back into the other’s body again - to realize the crowd had formed because, apparently the Beckets had arrived. He bounced up on his toes, suddenly cursing his lack of height and tried to see over the swell of well wishers._

_The man behind him chuckled, the vibrations meeting Chuck’s side. “It’s them all right. Well, Raleigh at any rate.”_

_“Raleigh?” Chuck asked, feeling his heart jolt. He bobbed slightly, trying to get a better view, managing to catch bits of blond and bomber jacket, and a smile that lit up the entire room._

_“Like Raleigh, do you, kid?”_

_“I’m not a kid!” he snapped back, putting his hands out and shoving back at the crowd. “I’m a cadet!” It wasn’t his brightest move, but Chuck’s internal filters had never worked at max capacity._

_“You’re Hansen’s kid then, huh?”_

_Chuck froze._

_“Bit of advice,” the other said, as Chuck watched Raleigh Becket glide through the crowd like he owned every atom in the place. “Don’t sneak out on return days. Especially not right away. It’s like asking to be caught.”_

_“Talking from experience?” he snarked over his shoulder._

_“Yup.”_

_“Ever get caught?”_

_“Nope.”_

_“Yeah, me neither.”_

_The man laughed, body shifting to allow Chuck to sink back into the empty pocket. “Head back now and you’ll make it back before they lock out.”_

_“They do that?”_

_“In the Academy, damn right they do.”_

_“Thanks!”_

_“Don’t worry, kid. This is the Beckets home turf, you’ll get your chance. Just be patient.”_

_“Don’t need patience. Have you_ looked _at me? I just need to get in range.”_

_The laughter rose and Chuck made his escape. He knew when to take advice when he heard it. He wasn’t about to risk being the youngest pilot ever on being netted up by the MPs._

_“Yancy!” Raleigh shouted, getting up on the bar stool and flagging an arm._

_Shaking his head, Yancy pushed through the crowd and abandoned the drinks on the empty bar._

_“What the hell happened to you?”_

_“You know me, can’t keep anything good looking at bay.”_

_“Usually manage without spilling our drinks though.”_

_Yancy shrugged. “What can I say? He was damn cute.”_

_Raleigh quirked an interested brow. Pressing his knee into the stool, he levered himself back up to look back in the direction Yancy’d come from. All he saw was red hair and a bomber jacket disappearing out the door._

_“_ Please _tell me you set that up.”_

_“We just got home, are you already trolling?”_

_“You know me,” Raleigh replied, flashing his brother a wide grin._

_“Yeah, I do know you.” He scrubbed a wet hand over Raleigh’s head, sending his hair in wild angles that frankly, took nothing away from the kid. “Trust me, give this one a couple of years to flesh out and you’ll have your match.”_

_“Cadet?”_

_“Yup.”_

_“Couple of years?”_

_“Trust me, Rals. You’re both going to need it.”_

_“Fire and ice, huh?”_

_“All flames,” Yancy intoned, shoving Raleigh over and taking the seat beside him. “The day you two meet, it’s over for everyone else. Try not to burn up too quickly, eh, kid?”_

_Raleigh laughed and dropped into his brother’s lap._

_Yancy huffed out an exaggerated breath, leg already shifting to accommodate him. “Not planning to be there to protect anyone?” Raleigh asked, swinging a leg._

_“Least of all,_ you _,” Yancy replied. He smiled down at his brother, arm winding about him to draw him into a tight hug. They’d been a lot of places, met a lot of people, slept with a good lot too. Even in their line of work, they deserved to be happy, have a family. Raleigh was young - not that he was much older - he could only see the party in it now. A few years would bring the rounding he needed to come around to realizing there was more to life than having a good time and getting laid._

_Yancy had fantasies of living in the same neighborhood, and raising their kids together. Christmases and birthdays and the fourth of July...Food and fun and family. They were neither of them what anyone would define as straight. No matter what it appeared on television and interviews. It was all about people’s perception. And if anything, the Becket brothers were damn good at being what everyone wanted them to be while simultaneously listening to no one and doing exactly what they wanted regardless._

_They’d find their way eventually. They always did. As long as they were together._

_“Tendo!”_

_He was jolted out of his train of thought by his brother’s happy cry, eyes meeting Tendo’s as he crossed over to them._

_“Hey, Becket Boys!” He slipped right up into the space between them, leaning into Yancy as the crowd resettled. “Welcome home!”_

_“Thanks, Tendo.”_

_“It’s good to_ be _home.” He slipped his hand into Tendo’s back pocket. With the crowd as thick as it was no one would notice. Well...no one but Raleigh at any rate, and Raleigh already knew._

_Tendo slung his arm around Yancy, fingers flicking Raleigh’s hair. “What happened to our drinks?” he asked, seeing the sloppy remains settled haphazardly on the counter._

_“Yancy saw a pretty face and forgot he’s an old man.”_

_Yancy bounced his leg, causing Raleigh to wobble slightly as he laughed._

_“Met someone who’s going to upend Raleigh’s entire existence one day. Mark my words.”_

_“He won’t tell me who it is though.”_

_“More fun that way,” Yancy replied, fingers stroking within Tendo’s pocket._

_“Gonna find out anyway.”_

_“Good luck with that.”_

_Raleigh swiveled in his lap to hail a bartender, as Tendo leaned in and turned his head away to whisper in his ear. “Baby Hansen?”_

_Yancy nodded, not at all surprised Tendo had noted the compatibility too._

_“Oh yeah,” Tendo remarked, turning back around. “We should start a pool.”_

_“It’s cheating if I bet on my own co-pilot,” Yancy remarked._

_“Not if_ I _do it.”_

Chuck blinked, feeling out of place in his own body, even as he was being blinded by a pen light. He shoved at the doctor and scrubbed his eyes. 

“Chuck. Hey, it’s all right.” His father caught him by the arms and drew him closer to steady him. 

“Raleigh…”

“Right here,” his fiancé replied. Chuck reached out blindly for him, shuffling sideways as his father directed him to sit. He wound both arms about Raleigh, bringing him close and settling a hand over their baby. “I’m fine,” Raleigh soothed, stroking his hair, answering his unvoiced question. “The baby’s fine. We’re both okay, I promise.” He kissed Chuck’s temple. “Are _you_ okay?”

“Yeah. I-” He pressed his face into Raleigh’s throat, swallowing thickly. 

“It’s okay, Chuck.” His hand smoothed over Chuck’s back, warm and reassuring. “I never warned Mako either...I’m sorry.” 

“What...?”

“Raleigh’s not alone in there,” Tendo remarked from somewhere to his right. “He and Yancy were drifting when Yancy died. It left a permanent imprint.” 

“Imprint?” he echoed, voice still somewhat gruff. 

“Of Yancy,” Raleigh explained. “All his memories, his feelings, everything.”

“Even his tendencies.”

“I don’t do it that often, do I?” Raleigh asked, concerned. 

“Not really, Becket boy. I’m used to it now.”

Chuck could feel the sorrow it brought, and held Raleigh tight. Raleigh responded by clutching him closer. It was definitely grounding.

“Our memories…” he said softly. “We were together our whole lives...I’m used to it, but it’s really disconcerting for other people.” 

“Both of you...at the same time…”

“Mmhmm.”

“We should get you both to medical, get the K-Science crew up for some tests,” his father said. 

“Not right now, Dad,” Chuck husked. “Still too raw.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Shut up. I just need a minute.”

Raleigh rested his head over Chuck’s, mouth to the crown of his head. 

“Someone didn’t help, blinding me with a fucking penlight,” he complained.

“I’m not going to apologize for doing my job.”

“Nor should you,” Herc added. 

After about five minutes, Chuck eased himself up. Raleigh hovered, but otherwise let him be. Seeing the concern in his eyes, Chuck drew him into a kiss that settled them both better. 

Pulling away, he looked at Tendo, meeting his eyes. “He really loved you.”

“I know.”

“Really, really loved you. The way I love Raleigh.”

“I know.”

“Good.” 

He scrubbed a hand through his hair, before starting slightly. His father and the doctor were at his side immediately. 

“Chuck, what’s wrong?”

“Hold still, Commander.”

Chuck turned, eyes focussing on the hand settled against Raleigh’s bump. 

Raleigh inhaled. “You _felt_ that?”

Chuck’s grin broadened over his face. 

“It’s too early,” the Doctor said, moving to Raleigh’s side and setting a hand to him. 

“Hey, you…” Chuck whispered, sliding over and settling on his knees beside his pregnant partner. He leaned in and kissed over his bump. “Finally letting me in, eh?” 

Raleigh tangled a hand in his hair. 

“I don’t feel anything,” the Doctor commented, shifting his hand about. 

“I do,” Raleigh replied, tangling his other hand with Chuck’s over their baby. 

“Not in the drift, Doc,” Chuck said. “Sorry, nuclear family only.” 

The bubbles tickled, he noted idly. No wonder Raleigh shifted around so much. 

Without any indicators, he and Raleigh looked to one another. Moved to share a kiss. Chuck was so happy, he swore he might explode. It’d be a damn good way to go, he thought.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More sex in this chapter.

“So you’re going to be an Uncle.” 

Tendo laughed, leaning back in his chair as he regarded him. “Looks like.”

“A rich Uncle,” Chuck replied with a smirk. 

“A _very_ rich Uncle.”

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t like Chuck to apologize, but there was nothing else he could think to say in the wake of all the new information buzzing around in his brain. 

Tendo sighed. “This family has way too many secrets.”

Chuck nodded his agreement. 

After a moment, he asked the question that had been bothering him for an entire week. “Did you hide it like Dad and Stacker?”

Tendo’s chair swiveled slightly, rocking back and forth. “You could never hide anything from the Marshall,” he replied. “And your Dad knew, because, well...similar situation. But, outside of Raleigh…” He shook his head. “Yancy wanted to go public, but I…” He sighed and traced the rim of his mug. “I don’t even know why. He asked me to marry him. I turned him down. He wanted to work it out, but I’d lost so many people to Kaiju, I couldn’t put myself out there all the way. In the end, a Kaiju took him from me anyway.” 

“Raleigh still has nightmares about that day.” He didn’t know why he felt compelled to share something so private, but something about the energy between Tendo and Raleigh made him feel like it was okay to talk to the LOCCENT master about things he otherwise wouldn’t be able to turn to someone else about. Even Mako was difficult for Chuck to talk to, if only because she was Raleigh’s other half, and it wasn’t a relationship he was used to living with. Before Raleigh, he hadn’t bothered to get attached to any other pilots. So he’d had no reason to learn how to maneuver the extended relationship of his partner’s co-pilot. 

Thankfully, he and Mako had their own relationship on which to build, and a well of respect from which to draw on. It made things easier all around to just treat one another like the most important person in Raleigh’s life. It was a countdown though, because once the baby came, everything would change. Chuck wasn’t always sure he was ready, despite assurances, swears and defensive comments spouted all over the dome to anyone who’d listen. 

“So do I.” 

“We all have our nightmares, mate.”

His attempt at comfort was met with a nod.

*

Chuck flipped through pages of information without really seeing any of it. He could barely concentrate, and wondered if this was how Raleigh had felt when he’d divulged his father’s secret relationship with the Marshall. It was as if everything he’d ever known had a new layer that he was suddenly privy to, and he just couldn’t make any of it out in his head. There was almost _too much_ information. If that was ever something that could be problematic. From the way it kept him wired, he bet it was.

He just couldn’t find a way for all of it to make sense in his head. He knew that - without him being aware of it - it had all existed just fine, in perfect harmony with the rest of the world, but...There were just so many things to think about. 

Yancy Becket had had one chance encounter with him before he’d died and had pegged him as Raleigh’s soul mate. Chuck wondered what it was Yancy had seen in him that had made him fit for Raleigh. He knew for a fact that Raleigh was Yancy’s entire world, even when Tendo was part of his life. So what could it have been that could have convinced the elder Ranger that a military brat with a chip on his shoulder and everything to prove would be everything his brother had ever wanted or needed? It just didn’t compute. 

Admittedly, a large part of Chuck’s problem was having no frame of reference for comparison. Chance encounter aside, he had never actually met Yancy. He had never gotten the chance to _know_ him. All he had to work with was second hand accounts, formal records, old interviews and - the most compelling of all - what was left of Yancy in Raleigh. 

What made it all the more frustrating was the fact that he couldn’t be sure which parts of Raleigh that he loved so completely was really the ghost of Yancy shining through. The fact that he was so shaken by it at all, unnerved him, and made him feel guilty as fuck. Raleigh was decidedly magnanimous about the entire affair, and was allowing Chuck to sort through things on his own. He maintained a close connection through their drift, and he was no less (or more) handsy than usual. He even did his best to leave himself open to excavation. 

No one had known what to do with the widening capabilities Chuck and Raleigh were developing daily through their personal drift. Which meant they’d been subjected to _weeks_ of exhaustive testing only to receive no actual answers - or anything that remotely resembled one. It was frustrating, but only in so much as the med team and K-Science crew were determined to figure it out, which made Chuck and Raleigh’s lives decidedly uncomfortable. And Raleigh was uncomfortable enough.

At twenty-four weeks, Raleigh was at his limit. There was no way to hide his bump any longer, which satisfied Chuck in a lot of ways. When he reached around him, and drew him close, it was almost as if he were holding both. While he couldn’t wait for that eventual reality, the stress of hiding the pregnancy had taken it’s toll on Raleigh. His body was cramping up constantly, and he’d scared the hell out of most of them more than once by suddenly going down. His legs seemed particularly prone to cramping, and Chuck had spent several hours rubbing out Charlie Horses the density of granite, while trying not to use too much pressure or massage too deeply. Every part of Raleigh was like a timebomb waiting to go off. The nausea had dissipated, thankfully, but every so often would rear it’s ugly head at the worst possible moments. If Raleigh, or the offending item, was not removed immediately, the blond would spend at least ten minutes worshiping the toilet. Every time it happened, it had to be reported to Raleigh’s medical team, who then insisted on checking his hydration levels. If Raleigh had to sit for one more IV, Chuck was fairly certain there’d be property damage. 

One would think, with all that was bothering Raleigh, his body would be consumed with fighting off every last annoyance and have virtually no time to feel lusty. One would be dead wrong. The more his bump grew, the hornier Raleigh got. It would be easier to live with if Chuck didn’t immediately feel horny as fuck himself. And it struck out of the goddamn blue, at the worst possible times. Thankfully, those who didn’t understand, were scared shitless of Chuck’s potential reaction, and held their tongues. Still, it could be more convenient, and infinitely less embarrassing. 

He heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up on his desk and dropping a hand over his eyes. 

_They didn’t often fuck in this position, because it was uncomfortable for Raleigh and difficult to balance for Chuck, which distracted him with concern for them. But with the aid of his desk - just the right height - and his office chair, the angle was just perfect._

_Raleigh gripped the sides of the table, shoulders parallel to keep his belly from bumping. He bit his lower lip, moaning sinfully around it as Chuck pistoned into him from behind. His grip firm over Raleigh’s hips, one leg steadying his fiancé to keep them both upright and aligned properly._

_Sex in his office - formerly Raleigh’s office - was originally on their list of ‘avoided areas’ for the potential disturbance, neither would have been too happy over. As time went by, however, they were frankly running out of safe places to have sex in the middle of the day without going all the way back to their room. Co-pilot or not, his father was still the Marshall, and his office could get busy at the drop of a dime, besides the fact that he actually needed it to do_ work _. Which meant they’d had to relent and shift around some of the areas on their list. One day Chuck was going to get Raleigh to consent to sex in a conn-pod. It’d be worth Mako’s chiding, he knew. He wished they’d had the chance when Striker and Gipsy had still existed. He’d have loved to have those memories, to share that with Raleigh. Without them, however, they’d have to make do. And one way or another, Chuck planned to do just that._

_“Chuck!” Raleigh gasped, tossing his head back. “Chuck! Chuck!”_

_“I’ve got you, Ray…” he grunted, shifting Raleigh’s hips with his hands. It received the desired response, Raleigh’s pitch heightening slightly, indicating his closing descent into orgasm. Raleigh only ever let him call him Ray when they were having sex, and Chuck found there were times he couldn’t stop himself from overindulging. Raleigh always forgave him - it was their own private thing, and it left Chuck feeling warm inside. Sometimes, he even let Raleigh call him Charles. “Let go, I’ve got you. There...there...Good?”_

_“Fuck!” Raleigh drawled, the syllable catching in his throat. His fingers curled against the top of Chuck’s desk. “Almost...almost there. Harder! Ch-uck, yes!”_

_There was_ nothing _Chuck wouldn’t do for Raleigh. Even when sometimes, he was concerned about the outcome. Which meant, of course, that no sooner had Raleigh voiced his desire, Chuck was complying. Shifting his hips to cant deeply into him._

_Raleigh was close, Chuck could feel it. He reveled in it every time; the feelings, the memories, the pure, open honesty of their coming together. The merger of their souls that had become organically possible for them alone. So, naturally, when the door opened, Chuck reacted with a fierceness usually reserved for the most dire occasions._

_“Comman--”_

_“Get the fuck out!”_

_The younger Ranger however, was frozen in the door, eyes wide. Chuck couldn’t tell if it was all embarrassment, or whether there was a mix of surprise and actual wish fulfillment in their eyes. But, he paused, prepared to pull out and stalk across the room to bodily toss the interloper, before finishing satisfying Raleigh, and subsequently tracking them down for their inevitable demise._

_“Chuck…” Raleigh panted, shifting to look over his shoulder at him. “I swear to God, if you don’t make me come right fucking now I’m going to kill the_ both _of you and no one will ever find the bodies!”_

_Chuck surprised himself by thrusting immediately - and delighting in the sound Raleigh made and the shuffle of the Ranger in the doorway._

_“YOU!” Raleigh released the table to point at them. “Shut the fucking door!”_

_The Ranger paled and complied, throwing the lock they’d forgotten as they did so._

_“Fuck,” Chuck gasped, leaning forward to lay across Raleigh’s back for the added contact, and nipping at his ear. “You’re so **hot** when you’re not getting what you want.” _

_“Shut up and fuck me,” he snapped, turning to catch Chuck’s mouth. Chuck’s hands smoothed to rest protectively over Raleigh’s bump as he did just that._

“You know, you don’t have to lure me in,” Raleigh said from the doorway. 

Chuck looked up, and felt his cock swell in his hand. Well...that was a new development. He couldn’t recall when he’d started to rub himself, and was entirely grateful he’d apparently only just unzipped and freed himself. 

Raleigh smirked. 

“Subliminal seduction is cheating, love,” Chuck informed him. 

“But the result is so goddamn beautiful,” Raleigh replied, voice husky with desire. 

“Are you going to come over here or not?” 

Raleigh hummed noncommittally, and locked the door behind him. “Thanks for the reminder, by the way,” he remarked, before sauntering over. He dropped Chuck’s jacket on a chair, and tugged his sweater off, revealing the swell of their child within him. Chuck felt his desire skyrocket into insatiable need, to which the blond responded with a chuckle. He straddled Chuck’s lap and wrapped both arms about his shoulders. “When I’m flat again, I just want to rub off on you until we both see stars.” 

Chuck dragged him close with a rumble of approval. 

“For now though…” His hands slid down Chuck’s chest, until he could lever himself upright. There was a bit of a struggle as Chuck tried to hold on to him and Raleigh tried to move. Eventually, he managed to position himself between Chuck’s spread legs and use his grip on him to lower himself to his knees. 

“Raleigh…” How his voice could sound both questioning and pleading at the same time, he had no idea. Raleigh brought out strange things in him. 

“Shh…” he replied, hands smoothing over Chuck’s thighs. “Let me blow you, Commander.”

Chuck moaned deeply, his body reacting of it’s own volition, arching into Raleigh’s nearness. 

His fiancé drew the tip of his tongue slowly up the underside of his cock, and it took everything in Chuck not to just come right then. 

“And then…” He toyed with the head, and Chuck almost lost it. “I’m going to ride you ‘til your chair breaks.”

“Steel chair.”

“I’m an ambitious overachiever.”

“Lucky me.”


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The weather is beginning to affect my connectivity. If I suddenly miss a day, do not worry, it is just my connection being crappy. And I will post as soon as it is stable enough. Unfortunately, while I can do many things on my phone, uploading new chapters is not one of them. Might try shoring them up as drafts though and see how that works out for me. 
> 
> We're back with Raleigh.

“We still don’t know what we’re having,” Raleigh pointed out one morning after lazy devotions to one another. 

“Well, fuck,” Chuck replied, stroking his shoulder. “We don’t. How the hell’d that happen?”

Raleigh inhaled and shifted, rolling onto his side and cuddling closer. It was getting harder to fit against Chuck’s side comfortably, as the weeks went by. But he was determined to keep him close as long as he could manage it. At least his fiancé liked to spoon. “There’s been a lot going on,” he replied, fingertips tracing the scars that patterned the Australian’s chest. 

Chuck had begun his sim trials, and their young batch of Rangers were mismatched all over the place. No matter how they swapped them around, the kids went down hard and fast, with a record of thirty-three seconds post neural handshake. It was frustrating for them all, but moreso for Chuck who had felt everything had been going along so well until then - despite all his gripes. Mako was buried in a sea of Jaeger parts, constantly refitting the new designs. They were getting closer and closer to a full line. But with no pilots to run them, they were hitting dead ends left and right. (Raleigh knew she was secretly postponing the Mark VI’s progress until he could test run it with her. While he appreciated the sentiment, he did his best to encourage her to work on it as often as possible, if only for the stress relief.) The press was clamoring for news, and the United Nations would not leave Herc alone. Which left the Marshall with very little time in which to do anything but try to catch some sleep. And Tendo was as busy as the K-Science department - whom were in the process of transitioning their findings toward medical advancements - with maintaining their alliances and negotiations with newly interested parties. 

And Raleigh...was sitting on his ass, still grounded. Still barred. Still useless. 

“Useless,” Chuck scoffed, stroking over his bump. “ **Never**. Stop thinking it. You’re busy with our baby, Raleigh. As much as it irritates everyone - no one more than you - to have you grounded, it’s for our baby’s safety, love. And everyone appreciates your sacrifices.” Drawing his hand to his mouth, Chuck kissed along his knuckles. “Most especially me.” 

“I’m sick of hiding, Chuck.”

Chuck smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you to man up.”

Raleigh laughed. 

“Ready to do this now, then?” There was hope in his eyes, but Raleigh also knew that if he wasn’t, Chuck wouldn’t push. 

He was sick to death of being confined though. And cowardice was not the Becket way. “Yeah, I think I am.” 

“What’s Yancy have to say about it?”

Raleigh paused, consulting the echoes of his brother’s soul. “He thinks it’s about damn time and you shouldn’t have let me copout so long.”

Chuck laughed, drawing him close to kiss his brow. “Yeah, Yancy, there’s only so much I can do, mate. I rather like getting laid. And your brother’s _so_ fucking good at it.”

Raleigh had thought he’d made peace with his brother’s death, only to find that he’d only managed it with Mako. When Chuck had brought Yancy up, the whole thing had hit him strong and fast and he could barely breathe through the experience. As time went on, and after their first real, solid drift, it became easier to speak about Yancy. Then one day - Raleigh couldn’t exactly remember when - Chuck had simply began talking to him as if Yancy were still alive. He’d ask him what Yancy thought, or what he would have made of a situation, and the answers sprung up as if Yancy were answering himself. What made it all the more theraputic, was how much it _didn’t_ hurt. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t mourning his brother’s absence. He was living with his memory. It made all the difference. 

He hadn’t thought it was possible to love Chuck any more than he had already found himself doing, but every day they were together, Raleigh fell even more hopelessly in love with him. It was all the little things. Like the way he was always there whenever Raleigh needed him. The way he never pressed, always supported, whether or not he agreed with him. The feel of his hands over where their child grew, always reverent, always awed, always devoted, and perpetually loving and attentive. He spoke to the baby as well, as if it were already a separate entity. Asked it about it’s day, and gently scolded it whenever it caused Raleigh pain. He told their baby he loved it every morning before they got up for the day, every night before they went to bed, and several times a day when they were alone, or with close family. 

As soon as the baby could be felt by others, and could minimally respond to stimuli, Raleigh found Chuck reading up on ways to support its development. He read it stories, or official paperwork when he was in need of winding down. Commenting about the individuals involved and how things could be resolved. Sometimes Raleigh thought Chuck just needed to work things out aloud. Most times, he realized, the years of strain on the relationship with his own father made Chuck more determined to be as devoted a parent as he could manage. Raleigh had no doubt that as soon as the baby was born, it’d be spending time in Chuck’s office with him. Just the two of them, together. 

The thought never failed to make Raleigh smile. 

Chuck played music for their baby, and insisted they only watch ‘quality’ movies, which somehow included several indie films and a veritable slew of internationals Raleigh generally fell asleep on, only to wake to Chuck explaining things to their baby. Chuck managed to carry on a never ceasing, ever evolving conversation with their child that Raleigh struggled to keep up with. What made it all the more interesting was that, as time went by, there was a noticeable change in their drift. A budding presence that didn’t react, instead, swaying in the flow of their daily exchange. 

Newt confirming it was in fact their child’s budding consciousness only caused Chuck to triple his efforts. It was both amusing and endearing, even as Raleigh began to look forward to the day when Chuck could have the baby, and leave him out of whatever new attraction came his partner’s way. He already suspected the baby to be more Hansen than Becket; a not entirely unwelcome possibility. As dysfunctional as Herc and Chuck could be, they had come a long way since their jockeying days. Though mostly unaware of it, both were deeply loving individuals, and only really needed guidance and direction to make the most of it. With their combined focus on the baby, Raleigh doubted - Hansen or no - their child would ever experience an iota of the trauma they harbored in their souls. It was a most comforting feeling. He’d not yet been able to catch up with Scott - who was back with the PPDC, and running errands for Herc - but he suspected he'd react with more of the same. Which suited Raleigh just fine. 

“Enough retrospection over the men in my family,” Chuck interrupted him, getting up and holding out his hands. “Let’s get you in the shower.”

*

“I can’t believe we’re thirty weeks in and you still don’t know the sex,” Newt commented, adjusting the probe over Raleigh’s midsection.

“We _would_ , if you’d just tell us,” Chuck responded. “Instead of going completely lost over the readings. Like that.” He snapped his fingers an inch in front of the scientist’s face. “Newt. **Focus**. What the hell are we in for?” 

It was Herc who responded, “It’s a boy.”

“How d’ you know, old man?”

“I recognize a bit of boy when I see it, Chuck.” He pointed at the screen. “Took notes when your mother sent me pictures.” 

Chuck leaned over Raleigh, to get a better view of the screen. Raleigh himself, was busy looking over how big the baby had gotten. In roughly ten weeks, they’d be parents. 

“Breathe, Ray,” Chuck murmured, stroking a hand through his hair. 

“Stop being so damn calm,” he replied, letting Chuck’s emotions envelop his own. 

“I don’t know what you’re worried about,” his partner replied. “He’ll be easier to--” He blinked. “ _He_.”

Raleigh smiled, feeling the excitement surging in Chuck. “He,” he agreed.

Chuck kissed him, hard and deep. Raleigh laughed into it. 

“Easy now,” Herc told them. “I’m sure Newt needs his office.”

“I…” The scientist went red. “Yes, I do! I need my office!”

“It’s okay,” Chuck commented, drawing back. “Raleigh’s body’s calming down these days. Baby’s taking up most of the fun space.”

Keeping an erection was becoming a bit of a problem. He tended to get dizzy when they had sex now, and Chuck refused to expose them to risks over something as minor as getting off. He could do it on his own, he often reminded Raleigh. Which was fine and good, but Raleigh prefered Chuck to be _inside_ him when he came. 

“Speaking of…” Raleigh shifted so he could sit up - Chuck’s hands supporting him before he’d even completed the thought. “The whole forty days thing…”

“Been reading up?” Chuck teased with a smile a mile wide. 

Raleigh smirked at him, before refocusing on Newt. “Am I going to have like a cycle or what?”

“That is an excellent question,” Newt replied, cheerily. “I can’t wait to find out!”

*

It wasn’t as if everyone didn’t suspect. The amusing fact was, no one had yet bothered to confront him about it. Raleigh’d been of the opinion that the _minute_ he showed, they’d be inundated with inquiries. Some strange combination of his reputation, Chuck’s, and the Marshall’s protectiveness had managed to scare them off. Which was how he had managed to make it to thirty weeks without a single person figuring it out.

In coming up with a plan to spin it, the PR department had researched medical conditions that could explain away his growing middle. Once Chuck and Raleigh had announced their engagement and informed the committee in charge of their information exchange rate that they thoroughly intended to try for _more_ children, it had all gone out the proverbial window. It left them rather adept, however, at answering evasively whenever someone seemed to be gathering the courage to approach. Having been forced to learn the possible stories, they had a near limitless list of explanations at the ready that could easily detour the courageous among the ‘Dome. 

So it took everyone by surprise when Raleigh announced to the Ranger who’d been designated group liaison, “I’m pregnant.”

Chuck choked on his soup when Raleigh casually pointed to him with his spoon and added, “He’s the father.” 

At first, no one knew how to react. The mess going quiet and still almost instantly. 

Chuck heaved a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. “I should really review my own lessons,” he said to no one in particular. 

“Anyone wanna feel him kick?”

“Christ, Raleigh!” Chuck snapped, throwing an arm between his belly and the table defensively. A mechanic popped up, raising her arm high as if she was in class. “I do!”

“What?!” he hissed back, before waving her over. She’d been with Gipsy both times, and Raleigh knew she could tell when he was bullshitting and when he was serious. 

She crossed the room, dropping down into the seat beside him. “Is he kicking now?”

“And distracting me from eating.”

She set her hand to his belly, and he guided it lower until it was poised over his thrashing baby. Her brows drew together before recognition dawned. “Oh, Raleigh!” she gasped, dragging him into a hug. “Yancy would be so proud,” she murmured into his ear. 

He gave a sniff, patting her back before they parted. “Thanks,” he whispered back.

Her hand rubbed over his bump, the baby kicking in response. She’d had three of her own over the course of her initial tour with them, so he was sure she was provoking the baby intentionally. Beside him, Chuck’s teeth were grinding together. 

“No one wants to know how?” he remarked.

“You mean, other than the usual way?” someone joked from the back. The Australian accent identified them as a likely former member of Striker’s J-crew. Chuck’s irritated sound beside him confirmed it. 

“If anyone was going to knock up a bloke-”

“OI!” shouted Chuck, getting to his feet. 

The laughter that surrounded them was warm, however. Carrying the fond notes of an extended family.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Raleigh was fairly certain that _he_ was the one who was supposed to be undergoing a nesting phase. As it stood, he mostly just wanted to sleep. By the day, the wonder of their baby moving was wearing thin. While he was happy that their child was apparently steadily developing along a healthy track, his body - even matrix altered - was rapidly growing short on room. When Chuck had confronted him all those weeks ago on how he planned to hide the baby moving, he’d brushed it off. Unable to properly visualize the type of situation he’d find himself in. Perhaps it had been the deposits of familiarity, left by Herc. Perhaps Chuck simply had a better understanding of a body’s limitations. Whatever the reason, Raleigh was glad the secret was out, if only among the ‘Dome’s inhabitants. 

Their baby had gone from a small, odd, but mostly comfortable adjustment to a full on drain of Raleigh’s resources. He was tired all the time. And whenever he wasn’t glaring at food, coping with Chuck’s encouragement to consume it, he was virtually inhaling it in otherwise uncomplimentary fashions. Chuck was among the group of people with whom the blond’s newfound sense of cuisine failed to evoke either outright horror or badly disguised disgust. But, as Newt had pointed out, Australians were in a league all their own. And Raleigh had since recanted every unsavory statement he’d ever uttered regarding vegemite. Their baby wasn’t even born yet and he was already a stalwart Australian. 

Chuck was unbearably proud. 

Herc was more subdued, but somewhere around the time the baby had started moving for other people, the current Marshall of the PPDC had unofficially, and with absolutely no warning, designated Raleigh as his newly acquired favorite person. Before fate had drawn them together as family, Raleigh and Herc had shared an affable, but mutually respectful relationship. They’d never been close in rank, but that had never mattered with Stacker around. They treated each other as Rangers, and awarded one another the complex, but generally standard camaraderie that accompanied their unique life paths. 

When both had believed Chuck deceased, they’d worked together just as well as they always had, if perhaps with a better understanding of one another’s position. Empathy enabled a distinct growth pattern in their relationship, that had not wavered even after the revelation of Raleigh’s predicament. Chuck’s return and their subsequent relationship had warmed the Marshall even more to the younger pilot. The drift had given them more insight into one another, through the common denominator they would forever share. Herc had been nothing but supportive toward Raleigh for the duration of their association. While that hadn’t changed, there was a more expansive side to the older man that Raleigh had seen no mere glimpse of once the elder Australian had accepted Raleigh and his baby as family. It was not subtle. 

Where Herc would speak out when he felt a need for those he felt deserved a voice, he was also a stout believer in making a name for one’s self through actions. If you could stand up for yourself, you had his respect. If you stood up for others, you had his attention. But, once one was made family, there was no end to the blind devotion and loyalty exuded by Hercules Hansen. Which was surpassed only by an unrivaled, fierce protectiveness that seemingly had no boundaries. Say what you wanted, but say it respectfully and with careful consideration, or not even an act of God could spare an individual from the Marshall’s wrath. 

Herc didn’t smother, it wasn’t his style. But oh how he could dote when the urge struck him. An uncomfortable, unfortunately hormonally emotionally stressed Raleigh often found himself the recipient of the Marshall’s more tender side. Half the time, he was startled enough to survive the encounter with limited awareness of any potential inferred accusations of favoritism. The other half, he was well aware of the implications and just didn’t give a damn. He had limited energy to expend, and chose it’s direction as precisely as he could manage, when the luxury was afforded him. 

It had been a long time since he could claim the love of a father. Longer than his own father had even been alive. On the cusp of becoming one himself, and compromised emotionally and mentally through the ever present drift he shared with Chuck and their baby, there were days it was all he could do to remind himself he was a Becket and not go off in search of Herc for unsolicited affection. 

For some reason, whenever the situation arose, Chuck was unhelpfully encouraging. It took Raleigh a while to realize that in lieu of being able to compromise his own self respect, Chuck redirected Herc’s love for his son, to his future son-in-law. Just as Herc had a tendency to linger a fraction of a heartbeat longer whenever expressing physical affection toward him, so the drift could carry the encounter to Chuck. At first, Raleigh was flattered to be a bridge for their slow, but progressing relationship. Then he realized he was the new Max and had refused to have anything to do with either for a week. 

“Did you have a fight with the couch?” he asked, regarding Chuck, pillows in each hand, glaring down at the aforementioned piece of furniture. 

The Australian threw both pillows down as if completely disgusted by the whole affair. Through the drift, Raleigh could feel his frustration. It took a moment for his fiancé to acknowledge Raleigh’s open arms, but he slipped into them easily enough, drawing him close in a tight, loving embrace and inhaling against his temple for reassurance. 

“I just want you to be comfortable,” he grumbled in reply. And while Raleigh couldn’t see as such, he knew Chuck’s eyes were closed. 

“I _am_ comfortable.”

“No, love, you aren’t.”

Raleigh sighed. “Okay, so I’m not comfortable all the time, but I’m fairly sure that’s standard at this point.” 

Chuck’s hands moved over his back in a way that never failed to comfort them both. Raleigh found his own mirroring the motions before he’d even internalized what Chuck was doing. They relaxed against one another slowly. 

“We’re so close,” Chuck breathed into his hair. 

He hummed in agreement. 

“I just...I want everything to be perfect.”

Raleigh smiled, dropping his chin to Chuck’s shoulder. “We haven’t discussed names yet,” he pointed out. Other than an unspoken agreement to not name the baby after anyone in Raleigh’s family, neither pointed out. 

“Did you really ask Dad if you could name the baby after me?” 

It was abrupt, but like all things he’d come to expect of their drift, not without merit. They’d experienced several bouts of full drift, each with varying levels of efficiency. Never once on command. Never once unwelcome. 

“Yes.”

“Even when you hated me-”

“I never hated you. We...weren’t initially fond of each other, but we’d made our peace.” He rubbed Chuck’s arms. “I wanted to honor you, and-”

“You wanted our son to know he was loved, and conceived through mutual amity, if nothing else,” Chuck finished for him, with a grin. 

When he shifted in acute embarrassment, Chuck laughed and drew him into a kiss. 

“I’m glad you wanted that for our baby,” he murmured, pressing their brows together afterward. “But, seeing as I’m alive now, and here for the both of you…” He gave Raleigh a squeeze. “And we can tell him there was a whole lot of loving involved in his development...” He pressed a solid kiss to his temple, smiling. “I’d rather not a junior, if it’s all the same to you.” 

“Which leaves us back at square one.”

“Yup!” his fiancé replied jovially.

*

“You’re up to something.”

“Me specifically?” Mako replied, with a distinct lack of surprise.

Raleigh waved his hand. “All of you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed something’s going on.”

“There is always something going on,” she informed him, casually guiding him out of range of welding sparks with a gentle hand about his wrist. So attuned to her, he moved with the barest twitch of her fingers. 

“Semantics,” he countered. Stepping closer to her, he followed her around the bend of Coyote Tango’s scaffolding. “ _Please_ tell me you’re not plotting to spring a baby shower on me or something.”

“I promise, I am not plotting.”

When he frowned, she laughed, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “I am not planning one either. I have a lot to do, and I would not know where to find the time. Besides, I am well aware of how you handle surprises.”

“That’s what worries me.”

“ _If_ there is going to be a shower, then it’s likely going to happen sometime this weekend, under considerably dubious circumstances, and you should wear your bomber.” 

The corner of his mouth quirked and he slipped his hand in hers, threading their fingers and giving her hand a slight squeeze. “You wear mine,” he replied. 

She turned to blink at him. Having clearly caught her off guard - an extremely rare occurrence for them - he smiled, allowing himself a moment to enjoy it before replying, “I’ll wear Yancy’s.”

When she smiled back, her eyes were distinctly wet. She gave a short bow - to the remnants of Yancy within him - and slipped her arm about him. “Whatever you wish, Raleigh.”

*

There wasn’t enough room for them both in the chair, but try explaining that to a stubborn bulldog. Max snuffled against his leg as Raleigh adjusted his bulk in the - decidedly uncomfortable, but he’d be damned before he allowed them to put _pillows_ on it - chair, and tilting his head so his ear rested against the blond’s baby swell, promptly dropped off. 

Beside him, Mako stood with her clipboard, holding her breath. Behind him, Chuck was pacing in increasingly erratic patterns, glancing between the monitors and the Jaeger in the hangar bay. Herc, the calm, cool center stood to Tendo’s right. The LOCCENT master, reserved but focused. No one had overseen as many tests as Tendo. His experience - and the superstitious luck his presence represented - was the soothing center of the LOCCENT. 

“Prepare for neural handshake,” the Marshall instructed.

“Initiating neural handshake,” Tendo replied, keying in his code and flipping a switch.

They all stared at the form of Lucky Seven as the pair of pilots within underwent their first in Jaeger drift. The Jaeger gleamed under the lights, the soft whirring of its start up thrumming all the way to LOCCENT. He was tempted to close his eyes, feel the vibrations hum through his body, but he absolutely refused to allow such a historic moment to go by without all the ceremony it deserved. 

And then she moved. 

Cheers erupted from the hangar floor, echoed in LOCCENT. 

“How’re we looking?” asked Herc, though he could read the schematics just fine. 

Tendo had the best eye of them all, and everyone - both within the Shatterdome, and among their allies out in the world - trusted him implicitly when it came to his job. 

“Lining up beautifully,” he reported, fingers plucking at the statistics.

They all released a relieved breath none would ever admit they’d been holding. 

“Get ready.”

No sooner had he said it, then Lucky had taken two steps forward and thrown a scarily precise punch. 

“Scott!” Herc bellowed. “Take it easy, or I’ll ground you!”

“Not just me in here,” came the voice of Scott Hansen over the comms. Raleigh understood all the emotions he heard in the response, even if no one else did. Knew them intimately. Scott’s co-pilot was in for a hell of a ride. 

“You’re the senior Ranger. Take charge!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Scott replied. “Playing a round of footy?”

“Focus!” snapped Chuck, impatiently. “ _Both_ of you!”

“Tang?” Tendo asked. 

“I’m fine,” the Ranger replied, sounding somewhat miffed to have his competency questioned. 

“Alan’s great!” Scott remarked, as Lucky shifted her weight, sliding into a graceful, but aggressive stance. “I’m great! We should do more of this.”

“Don’t overshare,” Herc growled.

“Too late!” his brother sang. 

“We’re having three or more,” Chuck rumbled against Raleigh’s ear. 

“You better aim for twins next then, because I am seriously reconsidering ever doing this more than once more,” he teased in response. 

“Challenge accepted,” his fiancé replied, nipping his earlobe discreetly. 

Chuck’s amusement at Raleigh’s sudden - and rarely kindled so late in his pregnancy - lust echoed between them under the heat that washed over them both in strong, steady waves. 

The bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scott needed a co-pilot and I wanted to keep as many in canon people as I could. However, when I looked up the candidates selected by Mako who fight Raleigh in the Kwoon before her, none had an actual name. In the book, Raleigh numbers them, so that was no help either. So, I commandeered the name of Candidate #2's actor. Technically he was in the movie. He fought Raleigh in the Kwoon. But as he never got a name, the actor is now immortalized in fic. 
> 
> Nobody tell him!
> 
> [For some reason, Ao3 is giving me a hard time about linking, so here is his IMDB profile: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1362611/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t69]


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things start to go downhill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! I got a new set up! The technician didn't even bother trying to fix ours, he took one look at it and was like, "I'm gonna replace this." So, fingers crossed! Hopefully this one holds up better. 
> 
> Sorry for the wait. The last one got so buggy that I ended up maxing out my phone's data plan compensating. Which left me three times as stranded as before. 
> 
> In celebration, we're getting this chapter early.

Scott Hansen was nothing like Raleigh remembered him, and everything that he expected. 

“Hey, Rals!” he boomed, flagging his free arm as he sauntered up to them in full drivesuit, helmet tucked beneath his other arm. Ranger Alan Tang, one of Raleigh’s own former drift candidates, followed his new co-pilot into the fray as if they’d been together all their lives. It was a good match. Raleigh was glad his new position as Herc’s soft spot had come in handy. 

The younger Hansen brother - and my but Raleigh’s life was filling with Hansens quickly - paused before him, eyes taking in every inch of him, before suddenly dragging him into an enthusiastic hug. “Welcome to the family!” 

Raleigh hugged back, clapping Scott on the back. “Good to see you back, Scott.”

“Good to be back,” he replied joyfully. 

He held his hand out and Alan smiled, extending his own so they could shake. “Good job, Alan.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“It’s Raleigh,” he corrected. “You’re a Ranger now.”

“We’re all in this together,” Scott crowed, turning to throw an arm about his co-pilot and drag him into their embrace. Alan went with the movement, but was careful to be respectful of Raleigh’s space, keeping his own body free of the captain’s pregnant swell. 

“Uncle Scott! Hands off my husband!”

“Married already are you?”

Chuck’s glower was decidedly lacking in heat. Raleigh could feel the love his fiancé had for his uncle. The trust he’d never let go of. The absolute belief that Scott Hansen was a perfect man, who’d perhaps fallen upon imperfect circumstances. He’d still not forgiven his father for ripping Scott out of his life. 

“Come here you little shit!”

Raleigh did his best to conceal his smile as Chuck was hauled into a crushing hug that spoke volumes about the relationship the two men had once shared, and the longing that had opened between them in the wake of their separation. 

Unfortunately for the Marshall, he’d followed his son out. 

“Scott!” he barked, descending on them. “I didn’t let you back into the program so you could fly off fast and loose with my Rangers! I-”

“ _Asked_ me back, because you have a desperate need for pilots who can actually jockey,” Scott shot back, finishing Herc’s sentence - with his own adjustments - as if they were still co-pilots. 

“They’re _my_ Rangers, Dad!” Chuck snapped, butting in. “ _I_ get to decide where and to whom they’re assigned! And I think-”

“This is just like you,” Herc continued, talking over his son. “Just because the situation’s-”

“You know what your problem is Herc?” Scott went on, over Herc, “You still see me as that snot nosed kid who used to follow you around everywhere! You always have! And I am so _sick_ of-”

Stacker, save him from bullheaded Australians. 

The problem of course, was that every Hansen present had drifted with another, and thus knew each other’s side of events. Scott and Herc had originated the issue, having spent years drifting together. Once Herc had swapped co-pilots, Chuck - like it or not - became aware of the real reason his uncle had left, the information colored from both ends, as he received both his father’s and uncle’s memories of the event. To further complicate things, _Raleigh_ now knew, through his natural drifting with Chuck. As Alan now knew, from his own drift with Scott. Raleigh could see him trying to control himself, but it was difficult when one’s co-pilot was under siege. Whether they were in the right, or the wrong, whether new or tried and tested, Ranger code - and the instant, deep connection forged by the drift - riled him to defend him. The only thing that could have possibly made the situation easier to cope with - Stacker’s sudden appearance aside (Raleigh looked to the door again, but the former Marshall still failed to materialize) - was if Mako knew. Unfortunately, he and Mako hadn’t drifted in months, so she was as uninformed as the rest. He felt a sudden pang for his co-pilot. Missing her terribly, even though she stood a mere few feet from him. 

He and Mako shared a ghost drift despite it all, however, and she turned to him almost immediately. Gracing him with a soft smile, she started toward him, around the trio of arguing - well, shouting, they weren’t much _listening_ to one another to qualify as an argument - Australians. Which perhaps - given her focus was already on him, and she was facing him, as she was already moving - was why she reacted before Chuck when Raleigh felt a sharp stab of pain. He clutched his side, knees giving out. Mako bolted for him with a sharp “Raleigh!” Chuck spun on his heel, instantly removed from the shouting match, and right behind her. 

They reached him at the same time, two pairs of arms going about him and easing to the floor in one tangled mess. 

“MEDIC!” Herc bellowed, echoed by Scott. They’d both abruptly stopped yelling at the same time. Some things, even years removed, could not be tampered with when someone lived in another’s head for a while.

*

At first, Raleigh was confused. Mind swimming with two distinct, severely concerned, inquiries. In a completely unlikely turn of events, he found himself backpedaling hard. His own soul calling out into a vast darkness for the one person who could make it better. An instinct so deep, the lack of return left him reeling in pain.

_Yancy! YANCY!!_

Frantic, he tried to push through to the other side, knowing somehow, that if he just managed to make it to the edge, he’d fall straight through and into the arms of his brother. But the harder he tried, the more constricted he felt. The two presences winding tightly about him and yanking back. Neither were particularly gentle. But then, Chuck was stubborn and Mako-- He was startled back into consciousness, inhaling sharply. The sharp, dizzying burst of sensation that was pure oxygen greeted him first. Bright lights came next, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly, turning his head with a groan. 

“Raleigh?” gasped Chuck, suddenly looming over him. He clutched his hand so desperately that Raleigh couldn’t be sure if the trembling he felt from him was physical or internal. “Raleigh, I’m _so_ sorry!” 

“Chuck,” Mako soothed, rubbing Raleigh’s arm gently. “Calm down. You will overwhelm him again.”

He could feel Chuck swallow, a turbulent mass of emotion threatening to choke him. He gave a squeeze back, weak, but sure. Chuck gave a single sob, and buried his face in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. 

“Raleigh.” It was impossible not to respond when Mako spoke to him that way. He turned his head, squinting at her. She smiled, drawing his hand between her’s to rest over her heart. “You scared us.” 

Chuck rested a hand over his middle, smoothing over the swell of their child. 

Raleigh instantly panicked. 

_Shh...He’s all right,_ came the instantaneous response, in Chuck’s voice. _He’s alright, love. Calm down, please. Please._ He drew Raleigh’s hand down, flattening his palm over where their child rested within him. The baby wasn’t moving, but the little flower of his consciousness fluttered slightly in the wake of his parents’ concern. 

Relief washed through him, bolstered by Chuck’s own. Up until that point, Raleigh realized, he’d only had the doctor’s word. He wondered if Chuck was unable to communicate with their baby when he himself was unconscious, or otherwise inattentive. 

“Everyone is safe,” Mako informed him, voice still a calm lull. “Now that you are awake, we know you will be as well.” She shifted in her seat, tucking his hand close and moving to lay her head against his side. 

“Sorry…” he rasped, and was immediately silenced by both.

*

**BED REST.**

The death knell of any able bodied Ranger still sane enough to realize the severity of their fate. 

They’d put him on _**bed rest**_.

Raleigh was no stranger to bed rest. After Yancy had died, he’d been stuck in a hospital bed recovering for three months. As soon as he’d been strong enough to remain upright and move with any efficiency, he’d grabbed his gear and bolted. He wasn’t interested in physical therapy. Didn’t care if his body never worked properly again. The only thought that had consumed him at the time was that he absolutely could not spend another moment in that bed. Bed rest gave him too much time to think, and that was never good in Raleigh’s case. It had been entirely unwelcome, without Yancy. The longer he lay there, the more he thought of his brother. The more Yancy’s voiced echoed around him. _Raleigh, listen to me!_

He wasn’t haunted much now, but it didn’t make bed rest any easier to cope with. Although, due to the fact that they once again - and with very good reason this time - did not trust him to stay in bed, he always had company with which to entertain himself. A body didn’t know how well liked they were until they were landed in a bed, incapable of movement for extended periods of time. 

While his family, friends, and former J-crew team took turns watching over him, Raleigh swore most of the ‘Dome had been in and out of his room by week’s end. At night, Chuck insisted on staying with him, climbing into the narrow bed to curl up around him, hands in contact with him and the baby at all times. Chuck - a fairly average sleeper, for a Jaeger pilot - became a sudden light sleeper. Startling awake anytime Raleigh so much as moved, and asking him if he was alright, despite the fact that their personal drift would inform him if such was the case. It was frustrating and irritating, and occasionally annoying, but Raleigh held his piece as best he could for the worry ever present in Chuck’s half of their bond. 

He couldn’t have helped what had happened any more than anyone else, yet Raleigh still felt he owed it to Chuck to be as complacent and understanding as possible. The raw edge of agony was an open wound. Chuck loved deeply when he let himself love. Loved forever. Almost losing Raleigh had awoken him to the very real possibility that even with the best medical care, and all Kaiju sealed within the Breach, there were still ways he could lose the ones he loved. The unknown frankly terrified Chuck. And while he did his best to shield Raleigh from it, it’s constant presence was testimony of all the stress he was undergoing. 

And then there was the baby. 

Chuck would rend the universe in two if it meant the safety and livelihood of his child. As their son was still in Raleigh’s body’s care, all Chuck could do for the time being was support and provide for Raleigh. Understanding his fiancé’s feelings, Raleigh participated as much as possible and tried to refrain from doing anything that would end up getting back to Chuck and set him off in a fit of worry. Once the baby was born, Raleigh thoroughly intended to do at least a half dozen incredibly stupid things, just because he could. For now, however, he would be patient and understanding and supportive the only way he knew how. By bowing to the demands of those concerned about him. As long as they were within reason. 

Still, there was only so much behaving Raleigh Becket could endure. 

“Raleigh...what are you doing?”

His fingers trailed up the hard line he hadn’t needed to toy very much at all with to awaken. “What’s it feel like?”

“No,” Chuck replied, catching his hand. “You need to be _resting_.”

“Can’t.”

“I can get-”

“No.” He leaned in and brought their brows together. “I love you, Chuck. And I’ve been trying, I swear I have.”

“I know you-”

“Let me finish, please.”

Chuck paused, waiting. 

“I know you’re worried. I’d be worried too. But, Chuck...I can’t live like this. I couldn’t before, and I can’t now. I can’t be treated like I’m some fragile, unstable object the world has it out for. I can’t!” 

Chuck rubbed his arms. 

“I need to do something. I need… _Please_ , Chuck. I can’t lie down and refuse to live just because there’s a chance I could get hurt. That’s how you start dying.” He reached up to caress the side of his face. Cupping his cheek, he pressed a soft kiss to his lips. 

“I’m a Jaeger pilot. It’s what I was born for. I can’t just turn that off.” He kissed him again, fingers moving beneath Chuck’s slackened grip. Chuck inhaled softly. “Help me live, Chuck. Don’t let me fall.”

Chuck’s arms enveloped him, mouth finding his and kissing him deeply. Raleigh wrapped his own arm about Chuck, drawing him closer and tangling his fingers in his hair. His fiancé drew away, the sound of lips releasing loud between them. He inhaled, drawing their brows together again and looking him in the eyes. “We’re going to go slow, okay? If anything happens to you, Raleigh…”

“Shh...I know.”

“If it’s too much just-”

“I’ll tell you,” he breathed. “I promise.” 

“I’m not strong enough…”

Raleigh drew his hand free of Chuck’s groin to wind that arm about him as well. “That’s why we have co-pilots,” he replied. “And out here...you’re mine.”

“Together, or not at all.”

And even though they both knew it meant when death came, in it’s own way, it was a vow to live together all the same. 

“Then let’s do this,” he replied. “Together.”


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back with Chuck!

Raleigh was out of medical, and back where he belonged. Chuck couldn’t say the change didn’t suit them both a lot better. Neither were comfortable with hospital settings. Both having lived through more than their fair share of tragedy. He hadn’t enjoyed a moment of Raleigh’s confinement there, any more than Raleigh had. But it had been necessary. Had anything happened, Chuck had been comforted by the fact that help would have been nearby. Situations dealt with immediately. 

He didn’t recommend physical intimacy in a hospital bed. There wasn’t nearly enough room, and it was terribly uncomfortable. Even so, it had reminded him very much of their first time. Only quieter, more reserved. He and Raleigh had made love - cheesy as it sounded - slow and careful, but fueled by their love for one another. Every touch was reaffirming. Every kiss a blessing. They’d moved together almost lazily, holding one another close, and moving as one. 

True to his word, Raleigh let him know when it got to be too much. They would pause to rest, continually stroking and kissing until the reason subsided. They’d start again, cautious and attentive to one another’s responses. It had taken hours to find release, but every second had been worth it. 

They both slept better in their own bed. 

When they’d woken the morning after Raleigh had expressed his discomfort in a way Chuck couldn’t brush off, he’d gone immediately to his father and had Raleigh released. It made no sense to dampen his already depressed spirit by forcing him to remain in a place that actively caused him strain. Thankfully, everyone was in full agreement, and as Raleigh was stable, there was no delay in the transfer. Once Raleigh had been released and they’d retreated to their own bed, Chuck had rewarded him for all his patience with a full body rub. Gently easing out the kinks the hospital bed, and the stress of being confined had caused. Raleigh had fallen asleep in the middle of it, but Chuck had been determined to get every last shadow of darkness free of him, and completed the session, before tucking him in. Max had whined until he’d been lifted and settled on the bed, moving immediately to curl up just beneath Raleigh’s swell. 

His husband - it may not be official, but they’d already sworn their vows - coped with bed rest infinitely better in their own room. He propped himself up with pillows during the day, and stretched his legs out with aimless walks about it when he felt restless. He was kind enough to wait to do as much until Chuck was present. He ate better, appetite much improved and far more talkative than he’d been in the hospital bed. He would read when he needed stimulation, or play fetch with Max, who proved to be the best company as he had no opinion on the matter of the blond’s confinement, nor a voice with which to express it. They showered together so Chuck could always be there to hold him up and help him in and out of the stall. And at night, they slept peacefully. Chuck about Raleigh, Max below their baby, everyone accounted for and sandwiched protectively. 

To make it easier on them both, Chuck abandoned his office to work from their room. He’d only leave to attend meetings or oversee the kwoon. And when he was away, Mako would unfailingly find her way to her copilot’s side. It was a common occurrence for Chuck to enter his room and find the pair of them curled up together, murmuring to one another softly or just plain asleep. 

He wondered some days at how broken Raleigh had been before he’d been reborn through her. Wondered what his own life would be like if Stacker had never sought the American out, never brought him back. Wondered if he’d even be alive, and if so, if it would be a worthy life at all. 

Raleigh and their son gave Chuck’s life meaning and purpose. They gave him direction, focus, determination. He’d been an excellent Ranger. One of the best. He’d known the code inside and out and he’d lived by it to what he’d thought was his last day. Yet, for every sacrifice he’d ever made, every time he’d risked his life for complete strangers, not once had it ever felt the way holding his family in his arms felt. The satisfaction of knowing the Breach was closed, and their baby would never know a Kaiju outside of a story or history lesson, was something Chuck couldn’t even put into words. 

He still wasn’t ready to completely forgive his old man. But every day he came closer and closer to understanding the thought process behind his father’s every decision. Not even the vivid details awarded him through the drift had been as great a lesson as the reality of the life Raleigh carried within him. 

When they’d first taken him to medical, Chuck had been faced with a choice. He’d refused to make it alone, stating that Mako, as Raleigh’s co-pilot had more authority than he, as Raleigh's mere fiancé. Fortunately for him, PPDC law was with him. Even if they had been married, Mako - as Raleigh’s co-pilot - would have had more influence in the outcome of his treatment than Chuck. As the Marshall’s son however, a Commander, and through the special circumstances of their drift, Chuck had been elevated. He hadn’t liked that one bit, and refused to be specially treated. He couldn’t be certain if Mako had been relieved or validated when she’d been escorted in. She had simply taken her rightful place at Raleigh’s side and listened with an open mind. 

They’d been in complete agreement when they’d informed the medical staff to leave the baby within Raleigh unless there was absolutely no other option available. At thirty-two weeks, it was dangerous, but less so than at an earlier date, to perform a cesarean section. They understood however, that the longer the baby remained in Raleigh, the greater his chances of survival would be. Given that neither had wavered, there was nothing the medical team could do but wait. 

Thankfully, it had all worked out in the end. Even if things had gotten awfully close there for a moment. 

Chuck didn’t know if Mako had felt what he had, when they’d been desperately fighting Raleigh’s subconscious search for Yancy. And they hadn’t had any time to discuss it. But the suspicion was starting to close in on him, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to keep it from the American. No matter how much it needed to be kept until after their son was safely born. 

Raleigh shifted with a soft sound, and Chuck got up, paperwork forgotten, to go soothe him.

*

“If you’re hiding things, I swear…” he grumbled, raking a hand through his hair.

The only sound that greeted him was the soft beeping of the former Marshall’s monitors. 

“You know, there’s only so long you can hide in that coma. That’s right, I said it. _Hide_. Do you even know what you’re doing to Dad? Do you know what you’re doing to Mako? You need to make a decision, _sir_. You can either get your shit together and wake the fuck up and take charge, like you’re fucking _supposed_ to. Or you can do everyone a favor and just give up and die. This lingering bullshit is driving everyone mad. Half of them have too much hope and the other half can’t bear to look at you like this. What the hell happened to our fixed point?!” 

He turned on his heel, throwing out both arms. “Do you even know you’re going to be a bleeding Grandfather? _I_ of all people, am procreating. With _Raleigh Becket_. He is out to here!” He gestured with his arms. “You have to see this! We are fucking up science and human biology since practically the dawn of time, and all you have to say about it is absolute zip!”

Stacker slept on. 

Chuck sighed. “If you hadn’t been so quiet in the drift, maybe I’d know how to help you. There has to be a way to snap you out of this. But even if we dragged in a pons system, Dad would go nuclear on my ass, and I’d rather be able to hold my son when he’s born. Not to mention the fact that Dad’s probably the only one outside of Tamsin you’d respond to now. And there is absolutely no way we can risk him. We need him. I need him. I wouldn’t let him try any more than he’d let me. And he’s the more sensible of us, so you know he won’t...Might not have even occurred to him…”

He moved Stacker’s arm so he could sit on the bed. Stacker wasn’t exactly the touching type. As long as Chuck had known him, he’d been reserved and distant. Chuck had tried his best to be like him, to varying degrees of success and failure. Still, Mako’s memories - which he caught glimpses of every now and then through Raleigh - painted an entirely different picture. A man who was at once stern and devoted. Affectionate and understanding. Chuck had seen hints of the man Mako knew as her father, and he suspected Stacker had tried to balance his own father’s inconsistency with steadfast discipline. Which Chuck had inevitably responded to.

But he knew from experience that the comatose needed as much grounding in reality as they could get, even when they dreamt of absolutely nothing. 

“If Tamsin comes for you, Stacker, you tell her to shove off. You hear me? We need you more than she does right now. I’m going to be a _father_ for Christ’s sake. You can’t tell me you’re honestly going to not stick around for the show.” 

He leaned in close. “Tamsin, if you’re in there...We need him back. Not as a Ranger, or a Marshall, but as a father and a friend. If you’re in there, and he can hear you...if there’s anything left you haven’t said… _please_ , Tamsin, help us. Kick his stubborn ass where he needs it most and shove his consciousness back into the pilot’s seat whether he likes it or not. He’s got a family here, and no offense, but we’re still alive. We need him more than you do. Do us a favor, will you? Remind him why we all climbed into Jaegers in the first place. Remind him what the goal was. Remind him what life was like before. And let him know, he is _**missing** it_!”

*

“You okay, kid?”

Chuck turned to watch his uncle as he closed the distance between them. His co-pilot waiting by the far wall, where apparently, they’d been having some sort of discussion. 

Uncle Scott wrapped an arm about him and drew him close, the way his father rarely had. “Hey...We _won_ , if you hadn’t noticed. There’s no reason to be this upset, Charlie.” 

He opened his mouth to reply, but no sound would make the trek up his windpipe, so he closed it after a moment and just shook his head. 

“Your dad almost had the same look when…” He swallowed. Instead of finishing, he drew Chuck into his embrace. “Listen to me, Charlie. Life is fucked up. It was fucked up before the Kaiju. They gave us a handy excuse for a while, but make no mistake, things are going to eventually go back to the hell they were before giant monsters rampaged. There have always been monsters, Charlie. Before the Kaiju, they were just better at blending in. 

“You’ve got a sprog on the way. And the way I hear it, you plan on having more. I’m happy for you, but you need to understand that you can’t just climb into a Jaeger and beat on everything that turns your life upside down. Strength comes from _here_.” He pressed two fingers over Chuck’s heart. “You listen to this, and no matter what, you’ll always be doing what’s right by _you_.”

“Even when it hurts people I care about?” he managed to rasp.

“ _Especially_ then.”

“What do I do in the mean time?”

His uncle smiled. “I know you’re smarter than that, kid.” He jabbed the two fingers against Chuck’s forehead. “You consult this, you love, you grow, and you _live_.”

*

“Are you alright?” Raleigh asked as he re-entered their bedroom.

Chuck trudged across the room, dropping articles of clothing haphazardly as he went. Raleigh set his book aside, shifting against his pillows to be more accessible. Climbing across the bed in nothing but his pants, Chuck collapsed against his husband’s side, enveloping his swell and upsetting Max in the process. 

Raleigh’s hands made their way into his hair, stroking soothingly. 

“I love you,” he murmured against Raleigh’s belly. The blond’s fingers gave a gentle tug of his hair as their son’s consciousness drifted by. Propping his chin over him, he looked up at Raleigh. “I love you, too.”

“And I love you,” Raleigh responded, hands moving to tug his shoulders in a guiding motion. “Chuck, what’s wrong?”

He sighed heavily, inching up so he could be more level with the older Ranger. Wrapping one arm about him, the fingers of his free hand found Raleigh’s swell and traced random, thoughtful patterns. It was a long moment before he could voice what had been bothering him. Raleigh waited patiently for him to gather himself properly. “You were looking for Yancy.” It wasn’t an accusation, but he could feel the tension seep into Raleigh. 

It was his turn to be patient, as Raleigh sorted out an answer. “Habit,” he said simply. “I was...I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who you were.” His fingers dipped over Chuck’s wrist in apology. “Or Mako. I got lost...I panicked. And I looked for Yancy.” His head lowered, eyes focusing on something internal Chuck couldn’t make out through the turbulence of both their emotions. 

“Did you find him?”

Raleigh’s head jerked up. Pain and hurt registered clear on his face, filled his too blue eyes, but it was the swirl of them in his own chest that made Chuck rush to clarify. 

“I’m not asking to hurt you, Raleigh. I legitimately want to know if Yancy came for you.”

“...Oh.” The tension eased, but for a moment, Raleigh seemed to feel almost _sadder_. “No. No, he didn’t.”

Chuck tugged him close and kissed his hair. “Not ready to give you up yet,” he told him. 

“Not ready to go yet,” Raleigh assured him. 

“Good.”


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things take a turn for the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I purposely posted this one late so it'll only be a half day before the next chapter. Since this, and the next two chapters are all tied in very tightly and I wanted to insert a cushion for the contents of this chapter.

He couldn’t hold it against her, for telling him. After all, they were both well aware of how Raleigh handled being surprised. Neither wanted to put him in that situation. And after his stint in medical, Chuck was loathe to do anything that might land him there again. He appreciated Mako’s foresight, and her participation in getting Raleigh there. But, he could have done without the matching jackets. 

Raleigh was still on bed rest, but they’d gotten special permission from his medical team for a few hours reprieve. Both Chuck and Mako had had to swear on everything they held dear that if the _slightest_ issue cropped up, they would call the whole thing off and rush Raleigh to a comfortable, level surface. As if either of them had needed to _swear_. So far, of the three of them, Raleigh was the one most positive about the entire trip. He walked slowly, but determinedly, and with a distinct bit of cheer. Every so often, he would have to pause, at which point, his greatest challenge was batting off Chuck and Mako. They would meet one another’s eyes after he’d start walking again, and it was almost as if they’d developed their own drift. 

Before Raleigh, Chuck could have never said he understood what it was like to really connect with people. After Raleigh, he couldn’t get himself to _stop_.

“SURPRISE!” echoed the voices of the party attendees as Raleigh - Chuck and Mako on either side of him - appeared in the doorway. Raleigh laughed, and it warmed Chuck to his core. He realized, quite unexpectedly, that it had been some time since he’d heard Raleigh laugh. He made up his mind right then and there that it was his personal mission to make the blond laugh at least once a day for the rest of their lives. 

“What the hell are you all doing taking a break at the same time?” Raleigh called out into the room. “You lazy asses!”

Mako pulled out Raleigh’s chair and Chuck helped him settle into it. Thankfully, the blond did no more than raise an eyebrow in amusement at the mass of pillows and decorations. 

“Do I get presents?” he asked, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. 

Chuck snorted a laugh. It was impossible to _miss_ the pile beside Raleigh’s chair. “ _We_ get presents, Ray.”

“You have the next one then!”

Mako settled down beside him, to better steer the flow of presents as they got started. They were well aware how important it was for their ‘Dome family to see Raleigh’s reactions to their gifts more than anything else. Chuck and Mako had decided that with all the limitations involved, they’d do things a little out of order. 

For a nearly post-apocalyptic society, struggling to make headway in a world that didn’t make sense anymore, they got a _lot_ of stuff.

*

Chuck was overseeing a sim trial of a new Ranger pairing when he felt it. Promptly forgetting everything, he bolted out the door and down the hall toward their room. Upon reaching it however, he was deeply disturbed to note Raleigh was missing. The sense of urgency swelled in his chest and he probably would have hurt himself in his redirection if his boots hadn’t been laced so tightly. There was only one other place a distressed Raleigh was likely to be, and Chuck made it to medical in record time. 

He burst through the door, nearly hitting someone with the swing of it, eyes darting about frantically until they landed on his husband. “Raleigh!” he gasped, jogging over to where the blond stood, cradling Mako to him. It brought Chuck up short. “Mako. What happened?”

Raleigh shook his head, Mako turning in his arms to bury her face in his neck with a sob. The feeling returned. He looked around again, and it made sense. “...Dad…” 

His father stood alone, staring down at his hands as if he had dropped something important and couldn’t seem to understand where it’d gone. “Dad,” he tried again, approaching him slowly. His father didn’t react. Chuck stepped into him, catching him by the arms and yanking him into his embrace. The older man struggled only slightly, but was so distraught, he’d apparently forgotten all his training. 

The sound of boots pounding over concrete floor echoed before the door was again thrown open. Chuck didn’t have to turn around to know it was his uncle. In his arms, his father began to quake. Scott crossed the room in three strides, and Chuck moved aside to let him bear the burden that was opening a raw chasm in his gut. His dad latched on to his younger brother with a fierceness Chuck had only ever seen in the drift. Scott wrapped both arms about him tightly and held still. Ramrod straight as his older brother fell to pieces in his arms. 

Chuck backtracked, sliding his arms about Raleigh and Mako and pressing his face into blond hair. _I thought..._

Raleigh shifted so he could nose along his jaw. _A little bit was me, but it was mostly Mako._

_There are too damn many of us in this relationship._

_We’re fine, Chuck._ He kissed him beneath the chin. _We’re fine._

When Chuck dared to look back about the room once more, he found Alan, Uncle Scott’s new co-pilot leaning against the door as if guarding the grieving family within. 

He was a good man, Ranger Alan Tang. He’d fit into the family just fine.

*

Their bed wasn't exactly small, but it wasn't particularly large either. Especially given the amount of space a pregnant, restless Raleigh could cover. Max was a bit of a bed hog himself, and Chuck wasn’t exactly prone to conserving space when there wasn’t a strict need to. Somehow, Mako fit just fine.

Curled up in Raleigh’s arms, body in a fetal position that somehow cradled Raleigh’s pregnant swell, and knees tucked up beneath Max’s chin, Mako slept fitfully. It had taken Raleigh a while to wind down enough to fall asleep himself - especially as Chuck couldn’t use any persuasive techniques with his husband’s co-pilot present - but eventually, he too found his way to unconsciousness. Max snored, at perfect peace where he rested. Both a comfort to the pair he slept amid, and a buffer between any possible collisions of a nightmare induced jerky knee to a delicate area. Sleep evaded Chuck.

No matter how much he thought it over, it didn’t make any sense. Stacker had been doing _fine_! They’d managed to stop the bleeding months ago. While he hadn’t woken, the medical team attending him kept him well fed and comfortably medicated. Radiation poisoning was not one of the more humane ways to die. If Stacker was going to make it, he needed the reprieve from the agony. Which made sense, because who the fuck decided everything hurt, so may as well return to consciousness and enjoy it. He had regular visitors, and no one who wasn’t family was allowed in to see him anyway. They even kept his limbs exercised so he wouldn’t atrophy too badly. None of it added up to negligence or miscare. 

But, people just didn’t up and fucking die for no reason. 

Frustrated, Chuck wanted to get up and pace. Walk around, jog, run. He wanted to climb into a Jaeger and break things. It was the first time since they’d closed the Breach that he was nearly begging for a Kaiju attack. Anything to stop him from- Something brought him back with a start. He blinked, looking down at Raleigh in his arms. He was expecting him to be awake, but the blond was fast asleep. He swallowed, but the insistent feeling was still there. Frowning, he closed his eyes and did his best to focus on it.

If he had to define it, it was akin to maneuvering a co-pilot's mental landscape. Except he was seeking out the R.A.B.I.T. in the flow and chasing it down. Something he was trained to never do. Under any circumstances. He'd been lost to it once - briefly - when he'd first drifted with his father. The anticipation of seeing his mother again springing out of nowhere randomly. His heart raced with it, and suddenly she was everywhere. He couldn't get enough. Images flooded him, nearly drowning him in their intensity. He could feel his father reaching for him, hear him shouting his name, but he was well versed in ignoring him then. So angry, so bitter...and then he'd had to relive Scissure.

Living through it once had been bad enough. Reliving it, weighing the memory down with even more fear, doubt and sorrow had only made it _worse_. They hadn’t talked about it. They’d burdened one another with enough truths that day. 

This was no mere R.A.B.I.T. however. For it didn’t evade him. Didn’t ride the wave of memories surrounding it, dodging in and out of focus and leading him deeper and deeper into an endless maze of emotion, sensation and all the little things that held someone together. It simply flared slightly, pulsing when he got closer, fading when he’d gone the long way around. His arm closed about Raleigh, tucking him close to reassure himself that he was safe, aligning their bodies, grounding him. His hand smoothed over the curve of his belly the way he’d done a thousand times before. Light exploded behind his eyes. 

Everything was warm. So very warm. He could hear the sea...No...not the sea. Not exactly. The sound echoed around him, soft wooshing noises, and steady pulsing, and a heavy thumping. And he was loved. So very loved. So, so loved that nothing was wrong - could ever _be_ wrong. 

A memory, distant and fragmented, a feeling from a time long, long ago bubbled up and enveloped him. Cocooning him, body and soul. He tucked his knees up, drew his arms close. Felt loved. And slept. 

When he woke, Chuck realized that he’d never felt so rested in his life. At least, not since long before Scissure and giant monsters roaming the ocean. He stretched, arm extending, in search of his heart. Raleigh hummed when his hand smoothed over their baby. “You needed that,” he commented. 

Chuck inhaled and snuggled closer without opening his eyes. “I did,” he agreed, nuzzling his husband’s side. 

“Feel better?” Raleigh asked, a hand finding it’s way into his hair. 

“Yeah.” Despite everything, he did. He couldn’t explain it, but for a few precious hours he had felt as safe as any living thing could feel. Safe and loved and at peace with everything around him. He licked his lips and drew his fingers down. Pressing a kiss to Raleigh’s belly, he murmured, “I love you” softly to their child. Then gently resting his chin over him, he looked up and met Raleigh’s eyes. “I think we drifted last night.”

The blond’s head tilted, a question in his eyes. 

“The baby and I,” he clarified. “I think we drifted.” He stroked over him, as Raleigh tried to absorb what he’d just been told. Chuck supposed he should have realized it wouldn't surprise Raleigh any more than it had failed to surprise him upon waking.

"I was wondering when he'd start poking at you."

"You've drifted with him before?" he asked. It hurt that Raleigh had failed to mention it to him. He didn't care what the other man told K-Science or medical. But Chuck couldn't fathom not telling Raleigh something like what had occurred the night before.

"I've noticed him a lot more than usual lately," Raleigh confessed, fingers massaging against Chuck's nape apologetically. "Since..."

"Ah." He tilted his head so his cheek rested over their baby instead, and wrapped both arms around Raleigh. Fingers stilled for a moment before resuming stroking. "Good to know he's on your ass about resting too."

Raleigh laughed.

In a while, he would have to get up and face the world outside their room. The reality of the change in their lives that had torn a hole in them as deep as the Breach. But for the moment, for one brief, quiet moment, Chuck planned to honor Stacker in the best way he knew. By loving the lives that were tied to his through mutual devotion. Living the life he wouldn't otherwise have had if the strongest man he'd ever known hadn't given up everything for all of them.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Chuck found himself racing down a hallway. Having been with Raleigh when the emotions hit him, however, he had been able to identify them as belonging to his father. With a quick kiss - he would never part from Raleigh ever again without kissing him for as long as they lived - he'd stuffed his feet into his boots, grabbed his jacket, and bolted.

He and uncle Scott nearly ran one another over in the doorway.

"You have exactly _two minutes_ to tell me what happened!" his Dad's voice boomed through several feet of steel and concrete.

Steeling themselves, they headed in.

Medical was in utter chaos. Technicians, nurses and doctors stood about, frazzled and stunned. Most of them pinned by the look of outright murderous intent in the Marshall's eyes.

"Dad," Chuck interrupted, in an attempt to get his father to focus on someone who wasn't apt to cower under his glare.

"Not _now_ , Charles."

Chuck exchanged a sideways glance with his uncle. Using his full name was as close as Hercules Hansen had ever gotten to discipling his son. When he called Chuck Charles, Chuck knew either he was irredeemably in the shit, or his father was barely restraining himself in the wake of protecting him. He had the distinct feeling the situation they'd found themselves in was decidedly the former, and had no idea how he'd earned the use of his full name out of it.

“Herc-”

“Not _**now**_ , Scott.” 

“Well, _somebody_ better tell me what’s going on,” his uncle replied, crossing both arms and drawing himself up to his full height. The tension in the room ratcheted up several notches. 

Chuck almost smiled. The poor medical personnel were between the Hansen Brothers, which was somewhere even Chuck knew better than to place himself. There was an endless list of better scenarios than being caught between Herc and Scott Hansen at the heights of their tempers. While no one could tell Scott wasn’t quite there, the projection was channeled bright and clear. With all the implications that accompanied it. 

Chuck decided it was best to play bad cop all around and frowned, balling his hands into fists. He was careful not to let emotion seep into his actions, wary now of how it could affect Raleigh and the baby. But, the staff didn’t need that. By the time his eyes narrowed, mouth twisting in a scowl, a good number of people looked to be near tears. 

The Hansen temper was legendary. And as far as they were concerned, somehow they’d incited all three.

“SECURITY!” bellowed Herc. 

Several PPDC security personnel in black uniforms filed in, clutching at their firearms and looking everywhere but at the Hansen men in the middle of the room. 

“Does _**anyone**_ want to tell me _how_ the body of our most important hero went _missing_ overnight?” growled his father dangerously. 

Chuck’s eyebrows shot up. Someone had stolen Stacker’s body?! He went from surprised to enraged in a moment. He could feel Raleigh pressing at him, concerned and curious. He tried to reassure him, directing unconditional love his way, but he couldn’t be sure it took. Not when they were so far apart, without skin contact, and he was about ready to begin some level eleven violence. 

“Sir!”

“Tendo, I swear, if this doesn’t have to do with-”

“There’s movement, sir.” Tendo’s voice sounded strangled. 

Chuck felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. 

“Lucky Seven, suit up. Chuck, with me.”

“Will Horizon Brave be deploying as well?” asked Tendo quietly. 

“Yes,” his father replied.

Chuck felt torn. If he went...If the Breach was opening again...He may never see his family again. He could die at the bottom of the Pacific the way he was supposed to all those months ago. With his father at his side. He wouldn’t be there to see his son born. Would never know who he looked like more. Or if the personality he and Raleigh had come to identify as ‘other’ and not a mix of any they carried combined, was who his son would be. He’d never see Raleigh again. Never hold him in his arms. Never kiss him again, or know the warmth of his body beside him in bed, or hear the sigh of his name as he thrust slow and deep into his husband’s willing, eager body. They’d never have a wedding. Or a rickety old house they loved to hate that kept them busy all year round. Never...But if he stayed...if he stayed, and the Kaiju came back, what kind of life would his son have? What kind of life could any of them have?

*

Mako was silent as she watched him suit up. She stood to the side, still as a statue until Chuck was handed his helmet. He turned to her, grateful that she’d known he’d need to see her before he deployed. “Take care of them for me.”

She stepped into his personal space and drew him into a tight hug. “Come back,” she murmured into his ear in soft, lilting Japanese. 

His arms tightened about her, his chest seizing. “If they come back, you get Raleigh, and pregnant or not, you two climb into Tacit and haul ass.”

“I will protect them,” she swore. And it sounded like a vow. 

Chuck nodded, swallowing hard. 

When they drew apart, their eyes met as they nodded their understanding. He looked up, already knowing who he’d find. Raleigh - to his credit - looked every inch the Ranger Captain. Head high, back straight, and shoulders set. The only thing that threw it all off was the protruding belly that altered the axis of his stance. 

His every step echoed as he crossed the space. Marking the moment with finality. There were no words at a moment like this. Just what could be found in the drift. 

They drew one another close, kissing passionately. 

When a Ranger said goodbye, they said it with their entire being. Another Ranger deserved no less, after all.

*

There were tears in his eyes the moment the handshake stabilized. The grief so encompassing, it threatened to overwhelm them. But they were Herc and Chuck Hansen. They’d killed ten kaiju in Striker Eureka. They’d seen the end of the world come and go by with barely a flicker. They would see this through, no matter the outcome.

“Scott.”

“I know, Herc,” his uncle’s voice responded over the comms. “I know. Me too.” 

“Let’s get this done then.”

They dropped only a few miles from where Operation Pitfall had launched. Horizon Brave - with her senior Rangers - took point. Lucky Seven followed just behind. It was difficult for Chuck to focus. To keep the memories that threatened to swallow them up at bay. His, Stacker’s, his father’s...even Raleigh’s. 

In the drift, he could just make out the tenor that was the undercurrent within his own mind. That undeniable presence that reminded him that he was never alone, would never be alone ever again. He stroked it, touching Raleigh in the only way he could. Used it as a means to ground himself, to remind himself why he was making the long trek all over again. As long as he could keep himself mentally balanced, he could go through with the mission, he knew. If they made it out alive, his father would never mention it. He knew that as well. But, when the baby was born, he would be held tightly by his Grandfather until the memories faded into the drift. 

They were both too raw to be out in the field, but they had no other choice. For the first time in a long time, they allowed one another full, free, and completely uncensored access to one another’s minds. Let the lull of combined memories of love and warmth and family roll over them without looking too closely. 

Chuck saw his mother, his grandparents, his childhood friends. Long summer nights and brisk Autumn days, carnivals and picnics and the way it felt to ride upon his father’s shoulders. To _be_ those shoulders and bear the weight of the whole of a parent’s world - proudly, humbly, and so deeply engaged in the outcome. His father likely saw plenty of himself, Max, Stacker and Mako, and Raleigh. Raleigh and their baby, whom, despite having yet meeting face to face, had prompted Chuck to lay down every last card in hand in hope for his happiness. 

“I’m proud of you,” Herc said, voice only slightly raspy with emotion. “You’re a good son. A fine Ranger. You’re going to be a great dad.”

Chuck smiled. “I had a good template, should do alright.”

He didn’t think they’d ever have the relationship they once had. Or the relationship they’d both once dreamed of having. But this, this melding of fathers and sons, of generations and love, he could do that. It wouldn’t be hard at all.

“And I have Raleigh.”

“That you do,” his father agreed. And Chuck could feel his father’s approval. His pride in how well Chuck had done for himself. In finding someone to love who loved him back just as deeply. In making a family in his own way - the way he had always done everything in his life. 

Their Jaeger rocked suddenly. 

Just like that, the moment was gone. Their focus returned, sharp and steadfast. They had a job to do. 

“Herc! Chuck! You alright?”

It was a moment before they could speak, as they needed every last ounce of brain power to re-establish balance. “Fine,” they answered as one. 

“Try not to move,” Alan’s voice returned, calm and collected. “We’re coming for you.”

“Don’t think that’s in anyone’s best interest,” his Dad replied, their Jaeger drifting slightly in the current and sinking deeper. 

“Not exactly steady here,” Chuck replied. “Probably destabilized after the Breach closed.” 

“We can still pull you out,” countered his uncle. Lucky moved steadily, but slowly and cautiously toward them, arms out as if the ground beneath her might not be as firm as her new pilots were proclaiming. 

“We can jettison if we need to. Still plenty of time. For now, stay back and see what-”

Lucky slid across the rise, tipping sideways and hitting the ledge hard. It gave and beneath them the ground opened up, Horizon - tank that she was - plummeting down. 

“LOCCENT!” Chuck snapped, toggling the controls as the line went static. 

“Horizon, are you-?”

“Lucky! Look out!”

The world was suddenly upside down and gravity tore through their chest. Chuck didn’t know exactly what drowning felt like, but he was certain that was what was happening. They couldn’t fight it, try as they might. Fate had a funny way of finding people.

At least, Chuck thought as systems stuttered out, one Hansen had stayed behind. 

In the end, that would have to do.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which...wait. What?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been told the last chapter is causing a lot of grief, and have gotten several requests for the next chapter to be posted as soon as possible. So, I will do that for you guys, because, I want you to not be haunted by everything that's happening. However, posting early only means the next chapter is going to be longer in coming. 
> 
> Something tells me you guys _might_ be okay with that.

_“Raleigh…”_

_“......Yan-cy?”_

_“Raleigh.”_

_“Yancy!”_

_“Hey, kiddo. Wake up.”_

_“I don’t want to.”_

_He couldn’t see him, but he felt him smile. Bright and happy and powerful as the sun._

_“Which one of us is the bedbug, here? Get up, Rals.”_

_“No.”_

_“Raleigh._ Wake up _.”_

_“Yancy…”_

_“I know you can do it, Raleigh. You were always an annoying early bird. Come on. There’s someone waiting for you. Time to meet face to face.”_

_“Yancy-”_

_“Shh...I’m here, Raleigh. I’m always here. I’ll always be here. As if I could ever leave you.”_

_“Yancy,” he sobbed._

_“Come on, kiddo. Up an’ at ‘em. Let’s go!”_

When Raleigh opened his eyes, everything hurt. He was dizzy and disoriented, and for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what had happened to land him on his back in a hospital bed. 

“Raleigh.”

He inhaled, releasing it in a series of stutters as he turned his head. Mako smiled at him, looking up from a bundle of tidy blankets. He frowned, mind failing to comprehend. 

“Mako, what-”

“He is beautiful.” 

His fingers twitched at his side, before moving over his abdomen. It was tender, but flatter than he last recalled. Mako stood, and brought the bundle closer. 

“Is that-?”

She deposited the baby in his arms gently, and it was as if a button had been pushed in his mind. The events of the last few hours sending him reeling. 

_He stood in LOCCENT overseeing the drop. As the highest ranking officer with Herc out on deployment, Raleigh found himself acting Marshall - a position he had never desired, nor held any aspirations toward. Beside him stood newly minted Lieutenant Mako Mori. The paperwork had finally gone through for Mako’s own promotion, and though they’d had to skip the ceremony and launch straight into service, it wasn’t unusual or unknown for them. The transition smooth, despite all the tension between them. Raleigh was infinitely grateful to have his co-pilot at his side, rank or no rank. Together, they projected a competent, united front that kept everyone in pace, even with Raleigh’s pregnant bulk a constant reminder that he was unable to jockey if worse came to worse._

_Which, if anyone thought that he would actually refrain, if it meant the difference between their continued survival or complete obliteration, they really didn’t know him all that well._

_So far, there seemed to be no evidence that the Breach had been re-opened, or that Kaiju had crossed through and re-entered their world. There was, however, something decidedly suspicious going on along the scar of it that none of them could explain. Raleigh accepted read outs and discussed schematics with members of K-Science and LOCCENT. Newt and Hermann both believed the Breach could not be re-opened, though after some wheedling they admitted aftershocks were a possibility. It wasn’t until Horizon and Lucky had reached their mark that they all realized what a danger aftershocks could be to a pair of monolithic, several ton giants._

_By then it was too late._

_“Horizon! Lucky!” Raleigh snapped into the comm. “Report!”_

_Static was their only reply, eerily loud in the silence of LOCCENT._

_Everyone’s eyes drifted to Raleigh. Not all were pitying. Some were expectant. Angry, he punched in an override code. “Herc! Chuck! Do you copy? Scott! Alan! Goddamn it! Someone _answer_ me!”_

_He hadn’t realized what he was feeling was in reaction to Chuck. Hadn’t known the panic that overtook him when Chuck accepted his fate. Every cell in his body refused to accept it, however, and he shouted at Chuck in every way he had. Hand gripping the mic hard enough to damage lesser equipment._

_“CHU-UGH!”_

_“Raleigh!” Mako gasped, suddenly at his side. She pressed her hand to his belly assessingly, before gripping the mic herself. “Newt, Hermann, it is time. Tendo!”_

_“All medical staff, code Gipsy Eureka,” Tendo’s voice echoed within the ‘Dome. “Repeat. Code Gipsy Eureka!”_

_“Raleigh,” Mako soothed, attempting to coax him away. “There is nothing more you can do here. Please, the baby needs you. Focus on him.”_

_“No! Mako, I can_ do _this! I can…” He hissed, doubling over. One arm cradled his belly as his mind desperately begged their baby to hold on. Just a little longer. Dad needed him, and there wasn’t time. Mako staggered under his weight, but she was strong and they didn’t falter._

_“Raleigh. Raleigh listen to me…”_

_**Raleigh, listen to me!** _

_“Raleigh!”_

_The room flooded with people, medical staff and K-science and security. Members of LOCCENT darted around, trying to make room for the sudden influx. Raleigh inhaled sharply. He had no idea what they were moving for. It wasn’t as if he would be having the baby on the LOCCENT floor!_

_“Stand down, Captain Becket,” a familiar voice ordered._

_Silence struck LOCCENT like a thunderclap. Raleigh looked up, gaze already unfocused. He managed to see the vague outline of a steady figure. Tall and professional, and very much in control. A fixed point in a world of chaos._

_And then he knew no more.  
_

When he came to again, she was sitting beside him holding the baby, and his soul ached. 

“Is he…?” He swallowed, throat closing. His body refused to acknowledge the possibility with something as real as a question. 

“Unconscious, but alive.”

He looked up, eyes widening at the form of Marshall Stacker Pentecost. He wore his trademark suit, though it wasn’t as trim as he was used to seeing. 

His gaze flicked between the Marshall and Mako. “I don’t understand. Sir, I saw-”

“Operation Reboot.”

“Operation Reboot?” he echoed. 

“Raleigh, your stitches,” Mako reminded him softly. 

“In the event of Ranger death, should a body be recovered, they’re transported to a secure facility, where they are put on life support and eased into a healing coma. A combination of cryogenics, advanced medical procedures and pure dumb luck.” 

Raleigh blinked at him. “Am I dead?” he blurted out.

To his surprise, the Marshall laughed. “In a way, every one of us that climbed into a Jaeger was dead the moment we did. As of this moment, no, Mr. Becket, I can assure you, you are not dead.”

“Raleigh…” Mako encouraged, placing the baby in his arms. 

“You _died_ ,” Raleigh informed him, cradling his child close. “We were all there. You _died_.”

“A temporary necessity. I was lucky.”

“A temporary--” He heaved a frustrated exhale. “Mako?” he asked, looking to her again. “Did you know about this?”

“I’d heard rumors,” she admitted. “But, no, I did not know.”

“If she had,” Stacker interrupted. “She’d have made sure I was transferred right away.” 

Mako nodded, eyes still on the baby. 

A thought occurred to him. It must have been quite obvious, because Mako refused to meet his eyes and the Marshall simply nodded. 

“Would you like to see him?”

“Why is that phrased as a question?” he snapped. 

“As soon as you’re-”

“NOW!”

A small hiccup accompanied the start of a tiny body. A wail soon followed and Raleigh was abruptly brought back to the present. “Oh sweetheart...Oh, I’m sorry…” He drew him close, kissing him. “Daddy’s sorry. I’m already doing everything wrong…”

Mako’s hand found his forearm and rubbed supportively. 

“Shh...it’s alright, Jason. I didn’t mean to scare you, honey. Daddy’s sorry.”

“Jason?” asked the Marshall. 

Raleigh nodded and stroked back wisps of auburn hair. “Jason Yancy Becket-Hansen.”

Stacker leaned forward in a motion akin to a formal bow. Mako smiled. 

“When can I see him?” he asked quietly. 

“Chuck or Yancy?” Stacker replied.

“Both.” 

“You can see Chuck as soon as you’re able to sit upright. Mako can wheel you in.”

“And Yancy?”

“Give me three days.”

“Is he…?”

“You’ll see when he arrives.”

Swallowing, Raleigh nodded. There wasn’t much else to do.

*

“How long was I out?” he asked, fingers tracing the tube of Chuck’s I.V.

“Two and a half days,” she replied. “The c-section didn’t go as planned.”

He looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms. And all at once, he felt overwhelmed. He was a _father_. This...tiny person had come _out_ of him. The life in his arms a perfect blending of himself and Chuck. When he looked down at his slumbering face, all Raleigh saw was Chuck. Chuck, and oddly, Yancy. Yancy...oh God, Yancy was _alive_! Or some form of completely and utterly **not _dead_**. Stacker had had him in some secret facility for _years_ and no one had told him! No one had even- 

Chuck’s hand squeezed his, Mako’s hands resting on his forearm. He swallowed hard. 

“Raleigh...breathe…” she instructed. 

“How...many asses...do I have to...kick,” Chuck wheezed. 

“Chuck!” Raleigh gasped. 

He rolled onto his side, settling Jason between them so he could reach for his fiancé’s face. Chuck closed his eyes, inhaling measuredly, and turned into the touch. He drew him into a careful kiss, which Chuck returned just as weakly, but no less passionately. 

“How’re you feeling?” he asked, tears in his throat. 

Chuck flagged a hand, brushing him off. “You…”

“He’s right here.”

Chuck shifted, trying to see the little form asleep between them. 

“Here,” Mako said gently, reaching over Raleigh and picking him up. She turned the baby around so they could both see him. 

“Ray...he’s _beautiful_.”

Raleigh smiled. “Of course he is,” he murmured. “He looks just like you.”

Chuck exhaled - a pained sound - and managed to wind an arm about him. Raleigh shuffled closer carefully until he was against his side. They were both banged up, but alive. More importantly, they were a family now. 

“Thank you,” Chuck breathed against his temple, before pressing a kiss to it. 

“Thank _you_ ,” Raleigh replied, catching his jaw with a light kiss as Chuck moved against him. “Without your goodbye kiss, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.”

“My kisses are lucky,” he stated with a soft smile.

“Yes, they are.”

“So are yours.”

And he kissed him.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yancy is returned to Raleigh.

The whole family was in recovery. 

Even Mako was a little sore, after she and Stacker had had to climb into Coyote Tango and go help dig out Horizon and Lucky. The extended life support of their Jaeger’s new conn-pods had meant that even after all four had lost consciousness, they had been just as safe as if they had been conscious and in control. They’d sunk fairly deep. It had taken Coyote’s new spacial disrupter to jiggle enough atoms loose for them to begin clawing their way out. In the end, the refits were what pulled them all through. Anchors and ballasts and counterbalances...Mako had prepared for nearly every event. She hadn’t been able to explain what it was like to Drift with her father, but Raleigh suspected she had never felt more joy. Especially as her new safeguards made it possible for him to climb back into a Jaeger again without aggravating his condition. Hell, Raleigh had never been prouder of or more happy for her. 

Because he’d officially moved into Chuck’s hospital bed - he had been prepared to argue, but amazingly, no one had tried to stop him - he’d been around for Herc and Stacker’s reunion. Chuck explained softly and mostly through their drift just how his father had taken the news when Coyote had shown up and Stacker had taken charge. There hadn’t been enough time then, but there was certainly enough time now. Raleigh could feel through Chuck how close Herc came to almost swinging at the other man. His arm snapped out, hand crumpling Stacker’s suit and dragging him down into a crushing kiss. 

It was a lot like watching your parents make out. Though, Raleigh wasn’t entirely sure the discomfort he felt at being witness was because of their positions. Chuck wasn’t uncomfortable at all. He was all warm happiness, akin to the world being set to rights. Which lasted until Stacker and Herc shuffled off to get reacquainted. Chuck spent the afternoon with his eyes squeezed shut, thumping his head against Raleigh’s shoulder. Scott laughed from the other side of the room for three hours. 

By the time they were released, Jason was the only one who couldn’t leave. Premature, he spent his time in the K-Science labs, where he had his own private team of doctors, nurses and scientists hanging on his every moment. Newt was in his glory. He hovered over Jason’s incubator, chatting at him, explaining to anyone who was even remotely nearby that he was a lot more intelligent than the average human baby, and he would understand more complex social interactions through his parents’ understanding. He would pull faces at him and play games with him, and did not object in the slightest when Hermann got swept up in his wake and began reciting mathematic principles. Chuck thought it was all very amusing, and was of the opinion that K-Science was a great sitting service they should make use of for however long the PPDC remained. 

His fiancé having been raised in Shatterdomes around the world, under the watchful eye of Lucky Seven’s original J-crew, Raleigh knew that it was - if nothing else - a fantastic learning experience. Chuck had so many random skills, it was almost laughable. Whenever Raleigh picked up on something, Chuck would launch into the who, how and why. Every story had meaning, every experience having shaped him into the man Raleigh knew and loved. If anyone had been concerned that Chuck Hansen would not be able to survive in a world post-Kaiju, they’d be insultingly wrong. If anything, Chuck was perhaps _more_ prepared than the average person. There were many jobs he could do with precision and efficiency. He was a hard worker who only ever complained about the outcome of a project when he felt others weren’t pulling their weight. A fact which Raleigh was intimately familiar with. And with his good looks and amazing physique, as long as he didn’t open his mouth and screw up the facade, he could get by just fine doing very little. 

“Wouldn’t sit right with me.”

Raleigh smirked, looking up at him. “Don’t think you’d be good at it?”

“Oh, I’d be great at it,” he replied, setting Raleigh’s food tray down in front of him, before sitting himself. “It just wouldn’t be…” His mouth twisted to the side, brow frowning slightly. 

“Honest enough,” Raleigh finished for him. 

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“One of the many reasons I love you,” he pointed out, freeing his utensils from their neat bundle. 

“One of these days, you’re going to have to write me that list.”

Raleigh hummed around a mouthful of warm rice. “I’ll think about it when a definitive one can be drafted.”

Chuck laughed, knee brushing Raleigh’s under the table. 

An insistent thrum vibrated in their chests. 

“Jason’s awake.”

Raleigh tilted his head. “Newt’s got him. He’ll be fine until we finish.”

“Ever think it’s creepy,” Chuck commented, taking a bite of toast. “How linked in we are with our kid?”

“No. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chuck’s grin was no less than a beam. Raleigh knew he’d been feeling uneasy of late, not quite sure how to be on the other side of the Parent-Child mental connection. As far as Raleigh was concerned, Chuck was exemplary. He did his best to take his cues from him whenever he could manage it. 

“Gonna get a little odd when the kipper’s going through puberty,” he pointed out. 

“At which point, we may or may not be having to worry about having a daughter in our heads.”

Chuck paled. 

Raleigh patted his side reassuringly.

*

“Do you want us to be with you?” Mako asked uncertainly.

Raleigh could feel Chuck’s agreeing sentiment and took the offered comfort. Swallowing, he straightened his sweater and stared at the door. “No, I...I think I can manage. Thanks.”

Mako kissed his cheek - for luck, he mused. 

Chuck gave his hand a squeeze and nodded at the guard. 

The door opened and Raleigh stepped through it. The room was dark, the only light coming from the area surrounding the bed toward the far corner. He wouldn’t have needed it anyway. He was across the room so quickly, he’d likely be hearing about it from someone later. Mindless of his stitches, or the ache of his muscles, he threw himself over the body and clung for dear life. 

Inhaling deeply, he drew in a scent he hadn’t thought he’d ever come across again outside of memories in a conn-pod. Ran his fingers over skin too cool for comfort, yet warm with life. 

**Yancy.**

He drew back, wiping at his eyes so he could see him better through the haze of tears. Yancy looked older, but only marginally. If Raleigh had to guess, he looked far older than Yancy now. He ran his fingers over Yancy’s face, tracing the lines and feeling the differences time and lack of mobility caused a body. He was thinner than he ever had been, his bones stood out strongly in the places where his skin stretched thinly across it, and he was paler than Raleigh had ever seen him, even as children. 

“Yance,” he rasped, his brother’s face held between his hands. “It’s me. It’s Raleigh.” He swallowed thickly, trying to force down the waves of emotion threatening to overpower him. He could faintly hear the sound of Chuck’s boots outside the door as he shuffled in reaction, but respected Raleigh’s need to do this alone. 

He dropped into the bed when his legs refused to support him any longer. Took Yancy’s hand in his and stroked over his wrist. He spoke to him, catching him up on everything. Mindless of the monitors around them. Yancy had scars. They matched his own, but looked starker given the state his brother was in. 

Time lost all meaning as he sat there, holding onto Yancy. The hole within him filling slowly, softening about the edges. As he sat and spoke, he found it grew easier with each breath. The return of his soulmate - even so shattered - more than enough to begin healing him in a more permanent fashion than previous attempts. 

“Newton tells me there may be a way to wake him,” Stacker said. 

Raleigh hadn’t heard him enter, didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, but he wasn’t startled. Nothing could surprise him anymore. “The drift,” he replied quietly. 

It was a moment before Stacker responded. “Yes.” If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. But, that was the Marshall for you. “It’s dangerous,” he added after a pregnant pause. 

“No. It isn’t.” He drew Yancy’s hand to his face, tilting his head into the touch. 

“The stress could be too much,” he pointed out. “He could be too far gone. You could get swept up in-”

“I have Chuck, Mako and Jason to ground me,” he interrupted, with a shake of his head. He looked up to meet the Marshall’s eyes. “How soon can we try?”

Stacker sighed. “Tomorrow.”

“But can’t we-?”

“ _Tomorrow_.”

*

Chuck was _not_ happy.

“Are you out of your mind?!” he shouted. 

Raleigh hissed as he tugged his shirt over his head. He’d bled through his bandages while with Yancy, but thankfully hadn’t actually popped any stitches. “Why do you always accuse me of insanity?” he replied, voice slightly muffled. 

“Because you are not inherently sane,” Chuck replied evenly. 

“Are any of us? We’re _Jaeger_ pilots.”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Is it?”

“Raleigh-”

“Chuck. I _have_ to do this. You know that. And you know why. If it were your dad, we’d be having this argument in reverse. But, it’s my _brother_.” He tossed his shirt aside. “I am getting him back, Chuck. Come hell or high water.”

“I’d rather avoid your drowning, in any sense.”

He crossed over to him, easing into his lap carefully. Wrapping both arms about his neck, his fingers found their way into his hair as he kissed him. 

“You’d do it anyway,” Chuck sighed, distinctly lacking accusal. 

Raleigh nodded. 

“You’re letting me know because?”

“Because you’re who I am going to spend the rest of my life with - however long that is. And if we can’t be honest with and accept these parts of one another…”

“We might as well give up now. Yeah, I know.” He sighed, hand rubbing low against Raleigh’s back. “I’m just worried.”

“I know,” he murmured. “And I understand. Do you understand why I’m going to do it anyway?”

Chuck hummed in reply. 

They kissed. 

“Try not to worry so much,” Raleigh breathed against his mouth. “I’m not going to go anywhere. We have too much to do. And I am _not_ done with you, Charles Hansen.” 

Chuck smiled softly. “Try not to go too deep. We don’t know what a drift’ll do to Jason.”

Raleigh swallowed. Their baby was still connected to them. He’d survived drifts just fine when he was a part of Raleigh’s body. But there hadn’t been any since he’d been born - aside from the unbroken drift his father and grandfather had still been occupying when they clawed their way back home. They didn’t know what a drift would do to him, how it would affect him, if it was even safe to. Though Newt and Hermann were of the opinion that it wouldn’t hurt him, nor affect him any differently than it already had. They felt it might be a little uncomfortable for him, with his own mind and body now fully independent of Raleigh’s support. But, they were nearly positive he would get used to it in time. Which was excellent news, considering his entire family were Jaeger Pilots who drifted with one another regularly. 

“Will you stay with him, while I do this?”

“Of course, love. Will you promise me you’ll try to be safe?”

“I promise.” 

Chuck kissed him soundly, as if sealing a deal. Raleigh kissed back as if signing his fate. 

It was going to be one hell of a drift.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finding it increasingly difficult to keep to the posting schedule, because with every chapter, you're coming up with such wonderful responses. And I keep having to double check how much you know before I answer, because I am chapters ahead of you. And I am squirming in delight every time you propose theories, and pose questions, and generally comment. Thank you all so much for making this fic such an enjoyable experience for me. 
> 
> You all make my day!
> 
> [Quotes in this chapter come from the film.]

“Alright!” Newt exclaimed, clapping his hands together and rubbing them vigorously. “Let’s do this!”

“I’d be more comfortable with this if Tendo were here,” Chuck remarked, Jason in his arms. They’d all agreed the baby would likely respond better to any discomfort if he was already in physical contact with one of his parents. 

“As would I,” Mako agreed. It was unlike her to side with Chuck, but Raleigh had his suspicions. He could feel the nerves she was trying to hide. If he had to guess, well, he also thought as soon as he went in he’d be face to face with Knifehead again. The difference was, of course, he’d moved on. And with Yancy alive, the memory held no power over him anymore. 

He shook his head. “Tendo will only know about this if it works.”

Several eyebrows rose in surprise. 

“Keeping secrets now, Mr. Becket?” Stacker commented. 

“I know how much they loved each other. If this works, Tendo’s entire life is going to be upended. If it doesn’t...I don’t want to put him through this if we can spare him.”

“But _we’ll_ know,” Chuck pointed out. 

“He would want the chance to say goodbye, even at the risk of the pain it will bring,” Mako countered.

“And he’ll get that,” Raleigh agreed, with a short nod. “But for now-”

“For now, he thinks there are enough damn secrets in this family.”

He didn’t have to turn to know the expression on the LOCCENT master’s face, but turning in response seemed to be a group response he was swept into. Tendo stood, arms across his chest, rosary in his hand. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t pick up on any of this?” he added. “I’m LOCCENT master. I know _everything_ that goes on in my Shatterdome.”

Herc’s eyes narrowed slowly. Tendo ignored the ensuing glare, moving to intimidate a technician out of her seat at the pons control. All he had to do was pause by the chair and she scrambled up and clear as if he’d threatened her. He slid into the seat and began pushing buttons. The apprehension in the room dropped significantly. 

Raleigh tugged the pons down over his head and eased his way back down. It was odd to be back in rudimentaries with Yancy. They hadn’t drifted out of full drivesuit since the day they’d initially been paired. It struck him suddenly, just how long it had been, and what he was about to do. 

“Easy there, love.”

“Are you sure you are ready for this?” asked Mako. 

“I was ready for this six years, three months ago.”

No one attempted a reply to his statement. Instead, they took their places. Raleigh turned his head to look at Yancy one last time before getting into proper alignment. 

“Prepare for neural handshake,” Stacker instructed. 

Tendo’s reply was as calm and collected as usual, though Raleigh knew he had to be suffering from several overlapping emotions that would make even trained Rangers unsteady. “Neural handshake initiated. Mental bridge in five…”

Raleigh took a deep breath, exhaling through his mouth. 

“Four…”

He licked his lips, staring up at the ceiling for focus.

“Three…”

His heart pounded in his chest. 

“Two…”

He closed his eyes.

“One!”

*

He was used to the color. The blue-grey cast of memories as they raced past. He paused to let some brush him, hoping that Yancy would be able to feel him.

 _They were running. Feet pounding against the metal hard as they turned corners too sharply and nearly toppled over every other shift in direction. Laughing wasn’t helping, depriving them of much needed oxygen as they raced faster and harder down the corridor. They would be in trouble if they got caught. They’d be in_ so _much trouble!_

_“Hurry up, Raleigh!”_

_“Yancy, wait up!”_

_“Keep up with me!”_

_The steep angle nearly sent them both flying, and they mostly stumbled their way down._

_They were late. Holy shit, they were so late! And on their first day too! What the hell would they even_ say _?! Could they be booted from the program so early in?_

_“I can’t believe you!” Raleigh shouted, both arms thrown wide. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?!”_

_“First drift, little brother,” Yancy said, grinning widely. “Ready to step into my head, kid?”_

_“So, you and Tendo.”_

_“Me and Tendo.”_

_“Wow. That’s some sex.”_

_Yancy laughed._

_It was never awkward. It was never difficult. Everything they were, they were _together._ It may have been a rocky start, but as long as they were together…_

_“Conn-pod’s been compromised! Yancy, Raleigh, keep your helmets on! **Do not** remove your helmets. Do you copy?”_

_“We almost_ died _today.”_

_“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!”_

_“Raleigh!”_

_“Yancy!”_

_“Raleigh, listen to me!”_

_“I love you. I love you so much.”_

_“Marry me.”_

_“Yancy, I-...we...I love you, you know I do! I just don’t think…”_

_“Marry me.”_

_“Yes, Charles Hansen. I will marry you.”_

_“Welcome home!”_

_“It’s good to be home.”_

_“You’re in my head all the time now, you tell me.”_

_“You’re gonna get your ass kicked.”_

_“Raleigh, please don’t do this.”_

_“Everyone I love dies.”_

_“Christ mate. That’s some refractory period you’ve got.”_

_“Raleigh’s not alone in there.”_

_“It’s a boy.”_

_“Chuck! Chuck!”_

_“Oh God, Tendo!”_

_“Yeah, Yancy, there’s only so much I can do, mate. I rather like getting laid. And your brother’s_ so _fucking good at it.”_

_“Looks like you’re going home, Yancy.”_

_“When can I see him?”_

_“Welcome home, Ranger Becket.”_

_“Raleigh’s really missed you.”_

_“Give me three days.”_

_“Jason’s awake.”_

_“Do you want us to be with you?”_

_“Newton tells me there may be a way to wake him.”_

_“I’d be more comfortable with this if Tendo were here.”_

_“Tendo will only know about this if it works.”_

_“Good morning, Becket Boys!”_

_“Tendo, what’s happening, my man?”_

_“How’d that date with Alison go last night, Mr. Choi?”_

_“He’s a year old. Today actually.”_

_“That’s cold.”_

_“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, brother.”_

_“Come on bro, put some muscle into it!”_

_“Worry about yourself, kiddo.”_

_“So beautiful...She looks like new.”_

_“Better than new.”_

_“Release for drop.”_

_“Gipsy Danger, ready for the big drop.”_

_“Come on, Beckets! Time for the drop!”_

_“Here we go.”_

_“YEAH! Here we go!”_

_“She’s one of a kind now.”_

_“She always was.”_

_“Sir, there’s still a civilian vessel in the gulf.”_

_“How do you like your ride, Becket boy?”_

_“Oh! Yancy! Wake up! Movement in the Breach!”_

_“Yancy….Yancy…”_

_“What time is it?”_

_“Two.”_

_“A.M.?”_

_“Yup!”_

_“Job’s done, sir! Lit it up twice. Bagged our fifth kill.”_

_“You disobeyed a direct order!”_

_“Respectfully, sir, we intercepted a kaiju and saved everyone on that boat.”_

_“What do you say? Fifth notch on the belt?”_

_“Come here!”_

_“Ah! Tendo! It’s good to see you, buddy!”_

_“It’s good to see you too, brother. It’s just like old times.”_

_“Get it! Come on! Shoot it!”_

_“I’m on it! I’m on it!”_

_“Kaiju signature rising!”_

_“LOCCENT, we’re hit!”_

_“Left arm’s gone cold, sir.”_

_“The hull! It went through the hull!”_

_“Raleigh, listen to me! You need to-”  
_

“NOOOO!”

The vivid colors drained away. Across from him stood Yancy. His arm was still outstretched, and even knowing it was only a memory didn’t stop Raleigh from being swept away in the moment. He ran, tackling his brother in a hug so fierce, it knocked them both over. 

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Oh God, Yance!” He buried his face in the juncture where his brother’s neck and shoulder met. “Yancy!”

“Hey...hey...It’s okay, Rals…” His arms tightened about him, and Raleigh nearly imploded, he was so emotional. 

“I’ve missed you so much!” he all but sobbed.

Yancy gave a soft snort. “I’ve been with you the whole time. Took you long enough to realize. Told you. All flames.” 

He shifted in his brother’s embrace, blinking up at him in surprise. “That was really you? It wasn’t…?”

“An imprint?” He shook his head. “What’d I tell you about believing everything you hear?”

“But...but they told me….You were dead, Yancy! You were-”

“Never found a body.”

“What?”

“They never found a body, right?”

He shook his head miserably. 

“Wasn’t dead. Well…” His head tipped side to side for a moment indecisively. “Mostly. I wasn’t dead when I got ripped out of the conn-pod. The shock was just…” He swallowed, crushing Raleigh to him as if there was any space left separating them. Given they were in the drift, where they could literally melt into one being, it was still marked restraint. “Lost consciousness when I hit the water. The impact...You were too far by then to get through to. Listened to me for once.” Raleigh leaned into his touch as he stroked his cheek. “Couldn’t take my helmet off. Kaiju Blue. Lost consciousness again. For good, that time. Oxygen deprivation...something about temperatures...I could hear things sometimes. Sometimes...there wasn’t anything to hear. And when I wasn’t being distracted by them…”

Raleigh could feel it. The reel of his life. The invisible thread that bound them, that kept them whole, even when they’d been separated for years. “You were with me…” he breathed.

Yancy scrubbed his hair in an attempt to get him to relax. The horror of it was nearly too much. The disappointment. The frustration. The sheer, raging anger-

“Stop.”

He drew him in, kissing his brow, before dropping his head atop Raleigh’s. “They told you I was dead. At the time, I mostly was. I couldn’t have helped you, no matter how much I tried.”

The memories swirled around them. Yancy screaming at the top of his lungs. Swinging, kicking, throwing things. Doing everything in his power to try to get his attention. The outcome always the same. 

“But I could be there for you. So I learned to do that.”

With Yancy present, Raleigh was able to look back and reflect. Was able to clearly see and understand every instance he’d felt Yancy all too near. So many chances...He’d ignored him, had _hidden_ from him. Yancy had been reaching out all that time, and he’d just...left him alone. The sinking feeling was like a blow to the gut from a Category IV. Yancy held him, easing them into a more comfortable position, gathering all of Raleigh in his embrace. The drift was good for that. 

“Couldn’t seem to wake up though,” Yancy continued, who only knew how long later. It was as it always had been with them. Conversations never ended, continuous communication that never ran dry. Six years and three months after they’d been ripped apart, torn in half and left bereft, they were right back where they always had been. It was comforting, even as it simply was. “Tried a few times. Could never figure out how.”

“Neural block. At least, that’s what Newt thinks. You know what happened, you’re conscious of it, but your mind can’t comprehend-”

“How to process all that without you.” He nuzzled his hair, closing his eyes. “I’ve been able to feel you. To experience the world through you - and we are going to talk about your life choices when we get back - but as far as my mind was concerned, yeah. Without yours to lead me back…”

“How would it know any of it was real?”

“And here you are.”

Raleigh smiled. “Here I am.”

They stared at one another, got lost in one another for a while. Drifted in the return of unity, of peace and sanity, and completeness, until an insistent tug forced Raleigh to shift. He sniffed, lifting his head with a frown. 

“That would be Chuck.”

Raleigh raised an eyebrow. 

“Front row seat,” he replied, pointing at himself. 

Raleigh laughed and kissed him. A loud, smacking kiss to his cheek. 

Yancy laughed at that, swatting him on the ass. “Come on, you. Let’s get you back.”

“You’re coming too!” he rushed, panic rich and pulsing in his chest. 

His brother smoothed back his hair and kissed his forehead. “Yeah, Rals. I’m coming too.”

He twined their hands and gave a tug. “Then come on, old man. We’ve got a world to get you back to.”

Yancy gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Lead the way, kiddo.”


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yancy returns to consciousness. And everyone learns something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back with Chuck!

When Raleigh had first gone under, Chuck had swayed slightly. It was nothing like when Raleigh drifted with Mako. There was more order to Raleigh and Mako’s drift, less randomness. It was also - when compared to Raleigh and Yancy - pretty damn shallow. He’d thought he had a good understanding of what it meant to drift with someone. To be so compatible that life without them was downright intolerable. But even his own experiences could not compare to the endless depths that existed between Raleigh and Yancy. He had a moment to wonder whether his father and uncle shared a similar well before Raleigh dove into memories. Chuck tucked Jason close and pinched the bridge of his nose as he was overwhelmed. 

Hands guided him into a seat, but when another pair attempted to remove Jason, the first pair urged them away. “Chuck.” Hands cupped his face before a brow pressed against his. “Son. Take a breath.” He swallowed against the surge of emotions in his chest, the knot in his throat he didn’t know how to untie. He stuttered in a breath in reaction to the puff of air against his lips. “That’s good. Another.” The second inhale rattled slightly. “Come on, Chuck.” The weight shifted, his father standing. The next thing he knew, he was being drawn close. His head turned, and cradled. His body enveloped in a loving embrace. 

Beneath his ear, a heart beat steadily. Strong, sure, regular inhales guided his own breathing. His father murmured softly to him, pulling him out of the chaos rebounding through him. He could hear the roar of a Kaiju. So loud and near, it rattled everything around him. He jolted to his feet, and the arms adjusted around him. “Striker!” he gasped to his father.

“Shhh…” 

A second pair of hands gripped his shoulders gently, holding him in place as the first left him. They returned, tugging him gently down, and he went. By the time the world made sense again, he knew Raleigh had found Yancy, and somehow, he was curled up in his father’s lap like a child. Jason slept in the crook of his arm. Which was reason enough not to move. He needed his rest, needed to grow strong so they could take him back with them. He dropped his head back down to his father’s shoulder, tucked just under his chin so he could gaze down at his own son. A hand cupped the back of his head and gave a comforting squeeze. Chuck did his best not to smile as Stacker’s fingers lingered a moment before releasing him. 

Yancy and Raleigh settled, and Chuck had a difficult time following what was going on. They drifted into a lull that nearly pulled him under with it. His eyes closed as tiredness seeped into his muscles. Jason woke with a start and began to squirm in upset. The soft, urgent sounds of his child woke him. As he soothed his distress, he reached for Raleigh and tried to jolt him back as well. He needed to finish up and come back to them. The mind that brushed his however, was not the Becket he was accustomed to. It was...quieter, more reserved, but not entirely lost to sensibility and reason. Vaguely, he heard his name in a voice he didn’t quite recognize. 

“Pilot to pilot cohesion at one hundred and twenty percent and rising,” Tendo remarked. 

“He’s got him!” Newt gasped, barely restraining the urge to jump up and down if the way he was twitching was any indication. “He’s totally got him!” 

“Can we bring them out of it?” Herc asked, the thrum of his voice coupled with his scent nearly lulling Chuck all over again. 

“Best let them bring themselves out of it,” Stacker replied. 

“Significant increase in neural surge, sir,” Tendo added, his voice wavering only slightly in what Chuck thought might be anticipation. 

“Confirmed,” echoed their resident neurologist. 

“One forty-five. One fifty.”

“Stacker.”

“They can handle it.”

“One seventy-five.”

“Sir, if they merge any further…”

“Do _not_ take them off line,” Stacker barked. 

“Pilot to pilot cohesion at two hundred percent.” That was _definitely_ worry in his voice. 

Chuck raised his head. 

Raleigh inhaled sharply suddenly, eyes blowing open wide. He sat up and ripped his pons connection free, shoving medical staff out of his way as he made his way to Yancy. His hand, Chuck noted, was cupped, as if holding something. He slipped that hand into Yancy’s slack palm. Alarms blared, the older Becket’s back arching suddenly. Raleigh yanked, pulling him upright, and tore the pons connection free. For the first time, in what Chuck suspected was many years, Yancy Becket’s eyes flew open. They immediately found Raleigh’s, whose softened, then quickly filled with tears. He threw his arm around him, drawing him close and openly sobbing onto his brother’s shoulder. For his part, Yancy looked incredibly lost. He looked around, even as his arm reached up and wrapped about Raleigh, seemingly on autopilot. 

Then someone - who clearly had very little actual experience with recovering Jaeger pilots - whipped out a pen light. Chuck heard his uncle shout, “Don’t!” just as they proceeded to nearly blind Yancy with it. His reaction was decidedly less violent than Raleigh’s, as he reflexively braced himself. Raleigh swung a decidedly vicious - and marvelously precise - right cross. It was neat and smooth and synchronized with Yancy’s retreat. In slow motion, Chuck thought, one might be able to see one Becket clear the way for the other, both reacting simultaneously, but complementary. It was one of the rarer instances of compatible pilot movement - and infinitely more hazardous to interlopers. 

“Everyone calm down!” his father snapped, as people screamed and rushed to move, nearly mowing one another down in the process. 

Chuck surprised himself, finding he was on his feet, Jason tucked close to his side with one arm, as the other reached down, grabbed the idiot by the white lab coat and shoved them away with enough force to have them toppling over a chair. 

Mako was at Raleigh’s side, but her hands wrung and she shifted her weight from foot to foot, unsure of how to handle Raleigh when he was defending Yancy. Chuck blocked out the thought process attempting to fit relationships in order now that Raleigh technically had two co-pilots. That path only lead to migraines. 

Stacker ordered all non-vital staff out and enforced a privacy bubble about the Beckets. The other pilots in the room knew well enough to keep away. What existed of K-Science and medical still allowed in the room had sense enough to follow their lead. 

Raleigh cupped Yancy’s face in his hands, fingertips sweeping over his eyes. He was murmuring to him...in french. Yancy nodded once. Then again. And after a moment, weakly blinked his eyes back open. They were grey in the lights of medical, but Chuck figured that probably had more to do with not being exposed to sunlight - or any light - in a while. Not to mention, whatever else they may have done to him in the years he was away. 

Tendo had not gotten up from his seat, his hands gripping his chair and the table so tightly his knuckles were going white. He looked absolutely stricken, which was not at all what Chuck had been expecting. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that the LOCCENT master had yet to pass out, he’d wonder if the man was even breathing. 

A hand curled about his wrist and he looked down to find Raleigh smiling up at him. It was soft and fond, with a hint of something else Chuck couldn’t quite make out. “Yancy…” His voice was so full of warmth and love Chuck was taken aback. “This is Chuck.”

His husband’s older brother tilted his head and observed him. 

“Chuck Hansen,” Raleigh went on. “Herc’s son.” He turned, shifting slightly to point out the current Marshall. “And Scott’s back with us.”

Yancy’s mouth quirked into a bit of a smile, and he waved, swallowing slightly. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but licked his lower lip instead. 

“His new co-pilot, Alan Tang.”

Yancy nodded. 

Alan nodded in return. 

“You know the Marshall.”

Stacker bent slightly forward. 

“Doctor Newton Geiszler and Doctor Hermann Gottlieb of K-Science division.”

“Hey, man!” Newt replied, greeting the now conscious pilot with a wide wave and a huge grin. “Call me Newt! Welcome back!”

“It’s a pleasure,” Hermann added. 

Raleigh, Chuck noted, skipped Tendo entirely, keeping himself between them so they couldn’t see one another. He rattled off a few more names, most of which got no more than a nod from Yancy. 

Mako poured a cup of water and handed it to Raleigh, who helped Yancy drink it in careful sips. “And this is Mako Mori.”

Mako bowed formally. 

Yancy snaked out a hand, catching her off guard and causing her to fall into Raleigh on the bed. She’d barely righted herself, eyes wide in shock, before she was dragged into a tight hug. At first she seemed completely at a loss. After a moment, however, she smiled and hugged him back. 

“You are very welcome,” Chuck heard her say softly. He wondered if Yancy had actually spoken, or if there was some sort of vibe they were riding as Raleigh’s co-pilots. The Wei triplets had done it often. “No, he was no trouble.” 

“Of course he was,” Yancy rasped. 

“Hey!” Raleigh cried, indignant. Then laughed - as Chuck had never heard him laugh before, completely carefree and utterly happy. He crushed Yancy and Mako to him, and nearly forgot to breathe in his happiness. 

Chuck was surprised yet again, when Raleigh gently tugged his wrist, urging him to join them. He did, seating himself gingerly on the bed, careful to give Yancy the room he needed, in a room too full of people - many of whom he didn’t even know. 

“And this…” Raleigh said, taking Jason. He cuddled him close once, before turning him and settling him in Yancy’s lap. “Is Jason Yancy Becket-Hansen. Your nephew.”

Chuck thought it was entirely too early for introductions of newborn family members. If it had been up to him, they’d have waited until Yancy had had a chance to recover, and take stock. But Raleigh, it seemed, was so happy to have his brother back, nothing was enough. Everything would have to do. 

“Y’...poor kid,” Yancy said, stroking Jason’s cheek. 

Their son turned his head, opening his mouth, tongue peeking out reflexively. 

Yancy laughed. “He’s beautiful, Raleigh, Chuck.”

“...Thanks,” Chuck replied after a moment’s contemplation, unused to interacting with someone so integral to his husband’s life. 

“I think he looks more like Chuck,” Raleigh rambled, leaning in and practically sprawling in Yancy’s lap. He tickled Jason’s tummy with one finger. 

Yancy slumped forward, chin dropping to Raleigh’s arm, eyes fixed on the baby, and listened unmoving for a long time.

*

Prying Raleigh away from Yancy was virtually impossible. Now that Yancy was fully conscious again, both seemed paranoid about his eyes closing for too long. The doctors explained he’d need rest. Which meant sleep, because apparently, a coma wasn’t restful. Chuck didn’t have much of an opinion on the matter. His own coma was difficult to recall, even when he tried. He’d remember things, _know_ them to be so beyond a shadow of doubt, down to his very core, and have absolutely no idea _how_ he knew.

When he dreamed, sometimes he’d wander into what he thought were memories from his time in coma, but he could never be certain. He’d drifted with his father for years, gaining intimate knowledge of his uncle through him. He’d drifted with Stacker. Had been drifting non-stop with Raleigh and their baby for months, which also gave him random access to Mako when he least expected it. And somehow, against all odds, Yancy as well. The more he thought about it, the less he wanted to think about it. Humans weren’t meant to have such unlimited access to one another. And yet, in the moments he really gave the thought time and focus - for the briefest of moments - he came to the ever startling conclusion that for all that humanity wasn’t ‘meant’ to do, they sure managed to do it a lot. Until it became routine. 

Was drifting becoming routine? When Jason was his age, would everyone live like this? Finding their perfect match, merging into one cohesive being, and never doubting they were loved? It had an awfully nice cast to it. Everything that could go _wrong_ in the process of finding the one - or ones in some cases - however, sobered the fantasy until there was grit along its edges. It was further darkened by the very real proof of what losing that person would do to the one who survived. As well as what getting them back could do.

It was as if every hint of darkness had been driven out of the furthest corners and smallest crevices inside Raleigh. He fawned over Yancy - there was no other word for it. They were constantly touching. Stroking each other, fingers tangling, holding hands, locking legs, pressing up against one another as if uncomfortable being in separate bodies. When they spoke to one another, it was in half sentences, when sentences occurred at all. Their eyes never left one another’s, and for the first time since Chuck had convinced a pregnant Raleigh to spend the night in his bed, they didn’t sleep together. 

What was surprising was how much it _didn’t_ hurt. Chuck couldn’t explain it, probably not even to a fellow pilot. It was something that he knew originated in their personal drift. There was a permanence about Yancy, an inexplicable presence that was both familiar and comforting. As if Chuck had known him his entire life, even though they’d never met before yesterday. Of course, Chuck’s hero worship and Gipsy Danger crush years could be argued as a basis for it, but it was more somehow. It went deeper than simply knowing basics about Yancy Becket. Because Chuck knew more than basics. And he didn’t know _how_ he knew them.

He knew that Yancy liked to sleep in, not because he was lazy, but because he was an insomniac. When the world went dark and quiet, Yancy Becket’s entire body primed for action. It had made some deployments easier on the Becket Brothers - a secret they’d never shared. He knew that because Yancy often slept in, he wasn’t big on breakfast. Lunch tended to be his meal of choice, and he dug in with gusto, as if packing away two pizzas worth of any food wasn’t a skill in and of itself. The one meal could last him all day, unlike Raleigh who needed to eat regularly, lest he got cranky. He knew that somehow, with his schedule as it was, he still managed to wake up and go for a run with his brother. Chuck knew the rhythm of their morning routine as if every footfall had been personally drummed into his own heart. 

Yancy was ticklish just off the scar he’d received when his appendix had burst in Nice when he was nine. If the water wasn’t practically scalding, the shower wasn’t worth it. He loved salmon but couldn’t stand the taste of tuna, and he’d eaten an entire can of sriracha soaked sardines on a dare in Academy, and had spent two days sick over it. Interviews would say his favorite color was yellow, but never bothered to ask him why. As if Yancy would be able to ever explain the concept of his love for the burst of sunlight that always managed to catch Raleigh’s hair and give him a comical halo. They would state he enjoyed swimming, but never elaborated that it was a combination of the stretch of muscle, the weightlessness and the unimaginable fathoms of a world just below your feet that went on forever and kept all its secrets. 

Yancy’s love of the ocean would come back to haunt him every time a Kaiju rose from it’s depths. He’d struggle with it during every attack, come to peace with his ability to love his planet and forgive the innocent ocean that had been scarred, that only needed their help to get through another one, and another one. Just when he’d gone back to a happy medium, the process would start all over.

Chuck didn’t know when, but at some point after Yancy’s return to consciousness, he’d begun to feel Yancy more than Raleigh. It scared him, it unnerved him, and while he expected to transition into downright pissed off, it never came. It took him a few days to figure out why. 

Raleigh needed to be debriefed. There was nothing Yancy could contribute, but, the brothers were uncomfortable whenever they weren’t attached at the hip. So Stacker had them meet in the K-Science main lab and they left Yancy with Jason. They were only a few feet away, but Raleigh kept turning to look regardless. 

“How much does he know?”

“Everything.”

It wasn’t a surprise to Chuck. Apparently, however, he was in the minority. 

“What do you mean, everything?” his father asked, frowning slightly. 

Raleigh shrugged, looking over his shoulder and meeting Yancy’s eyes. For a beat neither moved, and then as one, they looked away. Yancy down at Jason, Raleigh back at the assembled group. “It wasn’t just an imprint of Yancy,” he explained, touching a hand to his chest. “Yancy was with me the whole time.”

“Conscious?” Scott asked in surprise. 

“Nothing as solid as that.” They did it again, this time holding one another’s gaze for two beats. Raleigh swallowed. “He says he tried to talk to me, but I was convinced he was dead, so…” Three beats. 

“This doesn’t bode well for the program,” Stacker commented. 

“How’s the program work exactly?” asked Newt. “You just scoop a bunch of bodies up, figure, hey the world thinks they’re dead anyway, squirrel them away to a secret base and put them in a cryotube?” 

“The technical arrangement is classified.”

“Stacker, I love you,” his father remarked. “But, if you don’t come off it, I’m pulling rank.”

One of the former Marshall’s eyebrows rose.

“K.I.A., Stacker, far as the world knows. I outrank you now.”

Chuck smirked into his own shoulder, so he wouldn’t get caught. But his fathers were so busy military arguing with their whole bodies, neither noticed. 

“I can get you access to the program’s process,” he relented. “It won’t make sense to most of us here anyway.”

Six beats. They’d be gravitating toward one another in a bit. 

Newt seemed giddy. It was as if Stacker had told him he could open all of his Christmas presents in July. Hermann tried to remain collected and professional, but there was a glint in his eye that Chuck recognized all too well from their experiences during Raleigh’s pregnancy. 

“Long and short of it, yes. Any pilot designated K.I.A. is automatically remanded to the project. Not everyone survives the turn over. A mixed process that combines drift and MRI/CT technology.”

“What were they hoping to accomplish?” asked Scott. 

“What we witnessed Mr. Becket do. Unfortunately, early tests proved...inadvisable. Therapists were injured in the attempts, and some pilots were lost. We stopped trying to reach them and focussed instead on keeping them viable, for when a solution came.”

“Sasha and Alexis?”

He nodded. 

“The Weis?”

“Yes.”

“How many pilots are in the program, Stacker?” his father asked. He didn’t sound like he wanted to know exactly, even as he realized as Marshall, it was his duty to. 

“All of them.”

“All of them?” several of them echoed. 

“Every last one.”


	23. Twenty-Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things start to go sideways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm debating a companion piece to this fic that focuses on Yancy and Tendo, as I feel their relationship may not be getting the proper attention and might potentially come off skewed in this - as their story is essentially being told through Raleigh and Chuck. 
> 
> I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt on the matter. Thanks in advance.

It took remarkably longer than Chuck was used to to track the LOCCENT master down. Tendo wasn’t anywhere he ought to be. And whenever one of them asked after him, he seemed to have just stepped out. After trying everything he knew, Chuck gave up and staked out his room. To his credit, Tendo didn’t seem surprised to see him waiting. He shut the door behind him, tugged his bowtie loose and leaned back into the metal door. 

“Tendo...you should probably talk to him,” he said without preamble. It was as delicate as he could manage to be given everything. 

“I can’t,” he replied, voice muffled slightly. He’d dropped his hand over his face. From where Chuck sat it almost looked like a claw. 

“Why not?”

Tendo exhaled heavily and dropped his hand. “Because if I talk to him, there won’t be much talking involved.”

“He and Raleigh are attached at the hip. Have been since he woke up. I don’t think you’d be able to get up to much, mate. If that’s what’s bothering you.” 

“The love of my life just came back from the dead! I don’t know how to handle that like a rational adult.” He pushed off the door and began unbuttoning his shirt with quick, sharp movements of his fingers. He crossed the room, tugging it off and revealing a white, standard issue tank beneath. “If I get within a few feet of him, I am going to fall into him. I am going to grab him and kiss him and drag him off…” He closed his eyes, swallowing tightly. “And I am going to make love to him until I can’t move.” He paused, clenching his fists. When his eyes opened, they were heavy with pain. “And then I’ll have to explain to him that I’m married and apologize for involving him in adultery.”

He looked down at his shirt, stared at it for a long moment, then crumpled it up roughly and tossed it at the hamper. It missed. Neither noticed. 

Chuck inhaled deeply and stretched out his legs. “I’m not saying this because I want to make this any worse for you,” he began. He crossed his arms, then his legs at the ankles. “But, it’s the reality of my life right now and you’re family.” 

Tendo remained where he was, his profile to Chuck.

“This coming back from the dead thing, it’s...hard on them.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t think anyone - not even other pilots - could understand. If I weren’t bound to Raleigh the way I am, I know I wouldn’t understand. It would drive me insane with jealousy and inadequacy. But, because I am…” He sighed. “It’s funny because, if you’d have told me at sixteen that by twenty-two I’d have both Becket brothers in my bed every night, I probably would have accused you of lying while trying not to come in my pants.”

The LOCCENT master’s back straightened impossibly, the muscles of his shoulders tightening.

“Thing is, there’s fantasy and there’s reality. And they’re not balancing all that well. Raleigh’s happier than I’ve ever seen him. But he’s also completely paranoid. We don’t do much sleeping, which would be fine if it weren’t for the crippling emotions that weigh them down so much I can barely breathe for it.”

“...you’re drifting with Yancy now?” 

There was something about the way he said it. Chuck exhaled slowly, giving them both a much needed moment. “Think I always have been. From the start. He was part of Raleigh, Raleigh went through the throat and came back different. I think it affected Yancy too. Mentally, if not physically.” 

Tendo shifted minutely, eyeing Chuck peripherally. 

“We don’t know what they did to Raleigh,” he continued, allowing emotion to color his response. It was something he’d always kept closely guarded. Something he’d more than learned how to work around in the months following Operation Pitfall. “We might never know. But, whatever they did to him, I think they did to Yancy too. I think...I think Yancy might know more about what happened on the other side than Raleigh does. He might remember.”

“And you want me to ask him.”

“No.”

Tendo turned to him fully, blinking in surprised confusion. 

“I just want you to be honest. With yourself and with Yancy. You both made decisions. You made those decisions with the information available to you at the time. He and Raleigh chose to save ten people on a fishing boat stranded between a Kaiju and landfall because that’s who they are. You chose to mire yourself in Alison because she was the last link you had to him.”

Full surprise overtook the other man’s face.

“Wasn’t that the reason you married her six months later?” he asked, genuinely curious. “Raleigh was never a suitable substitute. You loved him like a little brother. Cherished and spoiled him, but you never once would have betrayed Yancy’s memory, or what you’d had for the chance to get that close again. And when Raleigh took off…”

Tendo raked a hand through his hair, tugging at the long ends anxiously. 

“You call him brother. You always have. I never noticed before but...you mean it. Every time you say it. You call Raleigh brother because in your heart that’s who he is. Because deep inside you, in that place you don’t look because you’ll never be able to get out of bed again, you said yes. Because on February 29th, 2020, you were widowed. Because two weeks later, in March, your only family vanished into the night, still injured, still unresponsive, shattered into a million pieces and angry at you for not letting him end it.” 

“Stop…” Tendo rasped. “Please...stop.”

Chuck got up. He crossed the room and stepped close to Tendo. When the shorter man didn’t move, he folded him into his embrace. “I’m not telling you what to do, Tendo. I’m not trying to. I just want you to remember the reasons you gave yourself before. The excuses you’ve been living with for more than six years. I want you to look at your life, really look at it, and ask yourself if letting Yancy go again is something you’re willing to live with.”

*

They were falling back into routine. It was different, and yet somehow, the same. It didn’t take long for Mako and Yancy to acclimate to one another. Soon enough, it was difficult to remember whether or not the trio had been initially assigned to the same team. It was difficult to pin down, that intangible thread that had united them, but it was clear that whatever it was, it was strong.

They would “run” together in the morning. Yancy needed to gain muscle, Raleigh needed to recover from his c-section and Mako kept routine. At first, it was a little funny to watch - though he’d glare down anyone that dared to so much as huff in amusement. Mako jogging steady, with a pair of blonds trailing behind, like an athlete warming up in the company of arthritic golden retrievers. She never went more than a few feet ahead of them, and would jog in place while she waited for her walking companions to catch up to her. They both tired very easily, yet, every time they caught up and Mako bounced away, Yancy and Raleigh would continue along after her without actually stopping. Mako never made them do more than take a leisurely wander around the transmissions hub. Chuck kept a watchful eye - just in case they needed physical support - but never interfered. He knew he didn’t have to. Mako was conscious of their every move and made decisions based on how well they were performing on any given morning. 

After their “run”, they’d shuffle off to wash up before either Becket got too tired. They’d learned early in that Yancy could and would fall asleep standing up, and Raleigh - if he was allowed to sit - would drop off without doing anything. It made more sense to keep them busy with one another. While the three of them changed, Chuck got breakfast for all four of them and brought it back to their room. Yancy and Raleigh would eat on the bed, sprawled out tiredly. Sometimes one or both would fall asleep mid-meal. But, for the most part, they managed to eat before their morning nap. 

Because they could be trusted to watch over each other, Chuck and Mako both went to work. They’d check in with each other after an hour or so, and depending on their individual work loads - and their ever expanding drift capabilities - one of them would check in on the Becket brothers, and catch the other up. Most days, one or both would still be asleep. The other content to lay beside him and wait, just taking it all in. They seemed almost fascinated by one another’s mere existence in those moments, and Chuck prefered not to interrupt when he walked in on one. If both were awake, they’d sit down and talk - about nothing and everything. Chuck found there was absolutely no filter in his relationship with both brothers - not that he had much of one to begin with. He found himself speaking of things he and Raleigh hadn't even gotten around to. It was almost easier somehow, with Yancy there. Even when he didn’t speak. 

When it was Mako who had the time, Chuck would enter his room only to find the three of them curled up in bed together. Talking softly, laughing, or completely unconscious. He didn’t know which he prefered, honestly. To come home to the sweet sight of the three of them sprawled atop the bed in a tangled mess of limbs that rarely appeared comfortable, but clearly was for all involved. Or to come home to find them engaged in peaceful, restful moments. Mako reading out loud in her quiet, precise way. Yancy and Raleigh sandwiching her in comfortably. The three of them murmuring to one another - about what he could never tell - their hands tracking one another’s movements, touching for the sake of touching.

They would go to the canteen for lunch. It helped to keep them active, and to give them a chance to be social, but he and Mako both knew it upset them just as much. Yancy was uncomfortable with all the attention he received, which aggravated Raleigh. He would always look around for Tendo, only to be disappointed by his continued absence, which only upset Raleigh more. Their emotions would bounce between them, then flood into Chuck and ping off Mako until the four of them were eating in silence while they all privately pondered a way to bring everyone back on track. 

They’d inevitably end up in K-Science, visiting Jason, who grew stronger every day. Mako and Chuck would leave them there to bond with the youngest in their bloodline, and handle Newt with Hermann’s help. Eventually, the pair would wander into the Kwoon and sit down to watch Chuck’s sessions. While they couldn’t fight, they could comment, and neither was ashamed to do so. Their interruptions became such a fixed point in the lives of Chuck’s Rangers, after every match, they would turn to the Beckets and await their corrections. If it had been anyone else, Chuck would have found it annoying. But Yancy and Raleigh had the experience, and an otherwise freakishly intense sense of drift from which to dole out advice. 

Chuck found he liked to listen to Yancy talk. There was something in the way he said his vowels, and the slight drag of certain consonants. He didn’t smile as much as Raleigh did - which was a natural state, Chuck knew - which made any upcurving of his lips a sight to behold. When Yancy laughed, it was mostly a broad grin and shaking of shoulders. He didn’t make much sound, but then, the elder Becket had quiet tendencies. Always had. Even when he was silent and still however, Yancy Becket never could quite manage to slow his mind. At first, Chuck had thought it a side effect of waking from a six year coma. Raleigh, however, had informed him that Yancy had always been that way, and while the activity had increased - probably due to the coma and having to cope with life beyond it - it wasn’t uncomfortable and that they’d all acclimate soon enough. 

Things came to a head when Chuck realized the four of them could sit at a table and have a wonderful time without anyone uttering a single sound. He didn’t know how long they had been doing it, or to what extent anyone around them was aware. But the knowledge didn’t concern him. Which was the reason they ended up in K-Science not long after.

*

Newt looked to be caught between wetting himself in glee and vibrating apart with a need to know everything. “This...is the most **incredible** case of ghost-drift we’ve ever _seen_!” he practically squealed, voice at least three octaves higher than normal.

To the side, both Marshalls - former and current - did not appear at all thrilled by the news. 

“Do you have _any_ idea what this means?! What it could mean for humanity?!”

“Is it permanent?” asked the current Marshall as the former questioned, “Is it reversible?”

“Oh it’s definitely permanent,” Newt said, all but giddily dancing around the four pilots on the examination bench. “Reversible?” He waggled both hands, his head moving back and forth like a bobble character’s. “ _Possibly_. But why would you _want_ to?!”

When all he received was stares, he shimmied out of the pair of Marshall’s line of sight and turned back to the foursome in their barest essentials. “The level of connectivity…” His hands trembled as he held them up. “It’s like…well, it’s...okay!” He stepped back quickly and rummaged through a box, pulling out an old Jaeger toy. “Okay, so,” he said, holding it up.

Amusement hummed through the four of them as they all realized as one that Newt had clearly been prepared to laymans their asses. Experience and necessity sparked ingenuity, Chuck thought. 

“When they first created the Jaegers, they thought they’d be able to stick a single pilot in and everything would be okay. Except the neural load proved too much for a single brain, so they implemented a two pilot system. Splitting the Jaeger duties to replicate a human brain - with the minor exception of the left-right hemisphere control, but that probably had a lot to do with crossing wires-”

“Newton,” Hermann sighed. 

“Anyway! People thought then that a two pilot system was necessary and no one thought to look too closely at an acceptable principle. And then-” He reached in the box and pulled out a small red dragon toy and brandished it at them. “The Wei triplets changed _everything_. No two of them were able to pilot properly and no one could figure out why, until someone said, ‘hey, for the hell of it, let’s throw all three of them into the sim at the same time and see if we can’t deconstruct what goes wrong’. Except, nothing _went_ wrong. Everything went right! So…” He waved the dragon toy at them again and set it down. “Accepted standards prove susceptible to exceptions.”

“You’re saying they could pilot a Jaeger together?” asked his father. 

“In theory, yes, probably. But it’s _more_ than that!” He waved eagerly at Hermann, who keyed in a few strokes, bringing up what appeared to be brain scans. 

Raleigh frowned. “Is that Jason’s brain?” he hissed. 

“We are never leaving him in K-Science again,” Chuck added, mostly just to get a reaction from Newt. 

Predictably, Newt looked a little crestfallen. Then, taking a deep breath, he forged on. “Jason was born premature, so we can’t be sure what would have happened if Raleigh’d been able to give birth naturally.”

Yancy’s eyebrows popped upwards. “Naturally?” 

He wasn’t alone in his surprise. 

Newt just grinned at them. “Vestigial...oh, forget it, we’ll explain it later. The point is, given the circumstances and stresses surrounding his birth, we think he might be a little more aware than he might have been if all of you hadn’t been so focussed on one thing at the time.” 

“The possibilities are endless,” Hermann added. “Most likely, by the time he’s self aware-”

“Which could be as early as a year from now!”

“He may begin to show signs of advanced mental capacity. Heightened intelligence, accelerated perception-”

“Even telepathy!”

Both scientists seemed to be far too caught up in their eager observations and future predictions to notice the looks they were receiving from the amassed group. It was the silence that eventually clued them in. 

“No, no, no, no, no! You don’t understand!” Newt gushed at them. “This is a _good_ thing!”

“Jason will be more sensitive in his perception of the world. With the right education and proper support, he could do wonders for the scientific community!”

“But, he’s going to need a stable base, and that’s where you come in.” He paused, grinning at them, but when they failed to respond with so much as an intake of breath in possible preparation for a question, he continued. “A mind, any mind, needs certain guidelines.” His hands flailed as he tried - and failed - to explain it. “When you pilot a Jaeger, you become one with one another, right? Balance out all those awesome strengths and pesky weaknesses.” 

His question was met with nods. 

“And it’s a proven fact that pilots who drift for extended periods of time begin to have a positive affect one one another. Both in their habits, and their mental and emotional ability to process. Jaeger pilots IQs jump up as much as thirty points over the course of five years in constant mental connectivity. Sure, what they do with those extra points varies, but the _point_ is that constant drifting make for _better_ human beings. All of your genes are going to be prime foundations for humanity’s progression three generations from now. So, you should all probably have at least ten kids a piece, to help the process along. Even--” Stacker and Herc narrowed their eyes at Newt’s forming hand gesture in their direction. He quickly aborted it. Newt gave a small, forced cough and gestured to Raleigh and Chuck instead. “You two should have a dozen, because you can. It’s two for the price of one conditional genetic advancements-” 

“What does this have to do with the four of us potentially drifting?” Yancy interrupted him. 

“You’re Jason’s family. And to his mind, his understanding - both due to the matrix and your unique situation - it’s not just blood, but the presence of your minds that composes that family. The more of you there are, the more minds he has to balance his, the healthier he’ll be developmentally.”

Chuck noted he avoided the term ‘sane’.

“That makes absolutely no sense,” Raleigh argued. 

“It might not right now, because you aren’t finished.”

“Aren’t finished?” Chuck and both Beckets echoed. Mako was busy listening. 

“Your relationships...they’re….” He threw both hands up in the air and waved both arms around as if he were trying to shake out the contents of an invisible box. “You’ve got to settle first. Amongst yourselves.”

“You have time, he’s still young,” Hermann added.

“Oh yeah, definitely. Besides, you’ll have us-”

“To see to his advanced education.”

“And to keep track of-”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Chuck snapped, holding up a hand. “Slow down. Sprog’s not even a month old and you’re planning his doctorates already.” 

“Last I checked, that was our job,” Raleigh pointed out, arms crossing.

“Guys…” Newt said, crouching close to them and practically pleading with his posture. “You don’t understand how _special_ your baby is.”

“I got pregnant,” Raleigh commented. “I think we’re aware-”

“The potential in Jason is unlike any other child on this planet,” Hermann interrupted. 

Newt nodded. “It may have been a matrix fluke, but, the Precursers accidentally gave us the best weapon we’d ever need against their return: A genius level intellect the likes of which our world has never seen. And he’s going to do great things, because he’s going to have all of you to balance out the crazy.”

“Crazy?!”

“Bad choice of words,” Hermann explained. 

“Not crazy as in mentally unstable,” Newt was quick to correct. “Crazy as in everything else! As in how he responds to the world responding to him. How he lives life every day. How he learns to slow down so he can rest.”

Everyone’s eyes slid sideways to Yancy. 

“Oh sure, blame my contribution,” he remarked. 

The laughter helped ease the tension.

“It should calm down eventually,” Newt soothed. “Once you figure out how to live with it and start focusing on actually living, it shouldn’t even be something you notice after a while.”

“And Jason?” Herc asked.

“Will be just fine,” Hermann assured. “We’ll see to that.”

They had a super genius baby who was going to change the world.

It just fucking figured.


End file.
